


A Dash Of Magic

by Happyritas



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Female Character of Color, Gaming, Gender-Neutral Frisk, M/M, Magicians, Minor Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel, Physical Abuse, RPG, Romance, Sans Makes Puns, Sexual Abuse, frisk is mute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 02:25:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9299963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happyritas/pseuds/Happyritas
Summary: Magic is powerful. Although all Monsters are able to use it, only a few select humans, including Charm, is cursed with a power such as magic.Magic is beautiful. One can create many things with this power, including life or death.Magic is dangerous. No one should be able to harness this power, not even for good, or evil.- - - - - -Contains suggestive themes of rape and suicide.Disclaimer: Frisk is non-binary. I do not own Undertale. I own Charm.





	1. -- Prologue --

Prologue:

After the monsters were trapped underground, by the humans with magic, they began to praise them, treating them like high priests. After a while, the humans began to fear that the humans with magical capabilities would revolt against them, much like they had with the monsters. Rumors were spread like a wildfire, I didn't take long for the humans to turn their praise into anger.

They began to form plans against the humans with magic, prosecuting the women, men, and even children, calling them witches and wizards opposed to gods and goddesses. They would hold mass burning to destroy their own kind, killing them with fire, hanging them, or even drowning them. 

In some more native cultures, they would force them into the mouth of an active volcano, praying to the gods that they would take their burning body as a sacrifice to keep humans born with magical capabilities away from their villages.

As time progressed, the large groups of magical humans diminished quickly. Most humans forgot the fact that humans with magic existed, and those who did know were discriminated against or reported to the government to be taken away, and most likely killed if not auctioned off as a toy or an exotic pet.

Naturally, to escape prosecution and slavery, the humans with magic fled, creating small camps all over the globe to help assist other humans born with the dreadful curse of magic. They went into hiding, keeping themselves from the public eye in order to survive. 

However, a group of men, sworn to eliminate any and all camps dedicated to magical humans formed, and spread out across the globe, finding said camps and burning them to the ground. They would take the women and children, selling them to slave traders for another mans' use. They would kill the men immediately, leaving children fatherless and women widows. 

Whatever slithers of hope left they would burn, whatever pieces of determination they would crush under their boots. They left the poor, lost souls hopeless, hollow, and devastated.


	2. I

**Chapter One:**

Charm remembered when her mama died. She was barely six and a half, yet she could still recall the entire event vividly.

She was but a soul lost in a storm of men, who swarmed around her, gathering whatever and whoever they could find. They took women and children out of their homes, placing shiny metal objects by their skulls. She could still hear the sharp pangs of gunshots, that sounded like a clap of thunder to her small ears, when they refused to listen to the large burly men, calling out for their spouses or fathers.

Even amidst all the chaos and horror, one thought rang through her head that fueled her veins with a new-found determination. She needed to find her mama. Her mama would certainly protect her, like she always did. She would shake her awake, hold her in her arms, and whisper that this had all just been another bad dream.

_Just another bad dream._

She knew the camp like the back of her hand, and was easily able to find her and her mama's tent. "MAMA!" She screamed, running through the flimsy drapery above the door. The sight that she saw was horrifying and still stuck in her mind to this day.

Her mother, laying on the ground panting. Her head held a large cut that bleed deeply. The dark blood and the glossy sweat mixed together, creating a successfully exhausted expression. Her large, unnaturally purple eyes transfixed on her when she ran into the room, her mouth tugging a small smile.

She held her stomach, which was bulging with her unborn baby brother or sister. She had wanted a sister, but she was fine with either.

Charm remember sitting next to her mother for hours at a time, feeling her stomach, and whispering secrets to her unborn sibling like how Mary-Ann was mean to her, but she still tried to befriend her anyway. Or how she gave her lunch to a small, neglected dog because she felt sorry for it. She wanted to keep the dog, but her mama refused.

Charm spent hours tracing her mama's dark-skinned belly, remembering each spot or bump. She knew it by heart. So, when she saw her mama on the ground with a red, gaping hole in her belly where her sibling was supposed to be, she knew something was definitely not right.

"Baby, _no_!" Her mama sobbed. She had never seen her mother cry before. She was always happy and full of smiles. Always telling her to look at it the ' _optimistic_ ' way. Her most favorite quote was, _'Things are sad because you make them that way. If you focus on the positive, then there's no possible way anyone could be sad'._

She didn't understand when her mama had tears streaming out of her eyes. She didn't understand why her mouth turned into a frown. She didn't understand why she kept screaming at her to get away.

And most of all, she didn't understand when the unknown man standing above her with a dark mask covering his face pulled her kind mama up by her hair, pointing the shiny silver object at her mother's head. "NO!" Her mama screamed, "Don't! Let me go!!" She cried, pulling at the man's tanned hand.

"Shut up!" The man hissed, yanking her by her long hair. "Or else this little shit is gonna get shot full of bullets!" More tears trailed down her face, but she slowly fell silent, her body slightly shaking from heavy sobs.

"Ma-Mama? Why... Why are you crying...?" Charm asked innocently, trying to wrap her young mind around the horrifying situation. "What's that man doing to you? Why...?"

"C'mere baby," she said in a soft tone. A motherly tone. The one she had been searching for as she ran across the camp to get to her. The one that she had been longing for.

A smile spread across her face, and she scrambled over, eager to hug her mother desperately. But, the large man ruined these plans, shoving a rough hand in her face and pushing her to the ground. She hissed in pain as her elbows scraped the rough ground, tears pricked the ends of her eyes.

"Stay there, you little brat!" He hissed, turning back to her mama. "I want you out the door now. And if you even think of doing something stupid, I'll--"

"Okay! Okay!" She said, raising her hands. Her mother grabbed Charm by her hand tightly. She bent down to her level, her eyes, although red and sore from crying, still filled with love and kindness, but her tone was quite the opposite.

It held such seriousness that it gave Charm shivers down her spine. "When I say so, run. Run far away and don't look back."

Then, she stood up, face the man with a steady face, filled with determination. Her eyes glowed a deep purple, and she held out her hand, forcing him on the ground, something he definitely did not expect. He was able to get a handle on the situation very quickly.

He pointed his gun at her chest and shot her. Charm remembered the bullet going through her body and into the roofing of their home, which was now in shambles. She remembered the blossom of crimson red that grew on the back of her shirt.

And most of all, she remembered her stumbling back, into Charm herself. She used the rest of her magical energy to teleport the two of them away.

Charm was no stranger to teleportation, her mama taught her to do it in emergencies, and only in emergencies. She guided her through the process of teleportation, what she should and shouldn't do. For example, she was never to teleport when fatally injured, pregnant, too many times, and out of pure laziness.

Charm also wasn't dumb. She knew her mother was pregnant. She knew her mother was fatally injured. She knew that in her condition, she had no energy to do anything, much less teleport them both. One could imagine the horror when her mother fell limp on the desert floor. "MAMA!" She cried, shaking her mother's shoulders helplessly. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow.

She was asleep, Charm thought desperately. Maybe she was having a bad dream; maybe they both were having a bad dream. Either way, she needed to wake up. She wanted to hear her voice, to hear her sing. To tell her everything was going to be alright.

Charm leaned against her mother's stomach, crying a river's worth of tears. The excess blood from her stomach and chest mixed with her tears and drenched her hands.

She wanted her mama, but her body was growing cold, no longer holding the warmth it gave away. No longer giving her that sensational feeling of safety and comfort. She felt... Small and alone. She was by herself now, and no longer had the feeling of a mother holding her hand as she walked through the difficult parts of life.

From that point onwards, she was totally alone.


	3. II

**Chapter Two:**

The sound of woodland creatures was Charm's wake-up call.

She got up from the small makeshift bed, sitting straight. It couldn't have been any earlier than five or six AM but she still needed to get ready for the day. She was in a small town and decided to crash on a mountain called Ebott. She had gotten to the city really late, and decided to refresh on supplies in the morning. Which happened to be now. Which meant she was going to have to go into town and see... _Humans_.

She shuddered at the thought, dusting off whatever dirt that caked to her body, as well as getting any stubborn sticks out of her long, thick hair. She longed for a comb, so she could make it neat and curly again.

Alas, she was unable to enjoy such pleasures, seeing as she was quite short on money, and needed to spend whatever she had left on food that would last, not luxuries.

The sound of a stick crunch made her jolt. She strained her ears for any other noise, getting ready to arm herself with her stolen knife, just in case.

Another crunch made her jump.

What she didn't expect was a child, stumbling out of the wooded forest. They had copper brown shoulder length hair and wore a blue and purple striped sweater and shorts. Soft tears streaked their cheeks, and they sniffed.

Charm reacted immediately, dropping the knife and coming to the child's side. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" She asked, concernedly. The child didn't answer, they just wiped their eyes trying to hide the very obvious tears.

Then, they pushed away from Charm, rejecting her kindness and ran away, towards the top of the mountain. Charm didn't expect the child, who couldn't have been any older than eight or nine, to run so fast.

Gathering her thoughts, and whatever few belongings she had, she ran after her, "Wait!" Charm called. Even though she barely knew the child, she definitely didn't want anything to happen to them. And what of their parents? They must be worried.

A few minutes later, she finally caught up with them. They were bent over, gasping from the lack of air leaving their lungs. When they saw Charm come over, they instinctively backed up, probably not wanting anything to do with her.

"I'm-I'm not going to hurt you," Charm insisted, trying to place herself in the small child's mind. "I just want to help, so--" the child cut her off by moving their fingers to sign rapidly.

Back at her village, there had been quite a few people who had lost their ability to speak or hear, so it was customary for all children to learn sign language in order to communicate with them. It was just a way to show equality in their small village and how everyone cared for everyone. Charm had to admit, her sign language was a bit rusty from not having to use it for so long, but after a few seconds, she was able to process the words that the child had said.

_[Leave me alone! I want to be alone!]_

"Nobody wants to be alone," she immediately answered, speaking from experience. "Where's your parents, they're probably really--" When she mentioned their parents, the child turned to run away again, towards the direction of a cliff. "Ugh, wait!" She called after them once again.

She was close when she caught up to them, almost able to grab them and help, but her foot caught on an upturned root. She slipped and went sprawling, bumping into the child as well. She held back as scream as they both went flying and falling into the massive abyss of darkness below.

✨•✨•✨•✨

Charm woke up to someone shaking her. She gasped in shock, and moved away instinctively. In front of her was the small child from earlier. They peered at her with confused, curious eyes. "What's wrong?" She asked, looking up. She could see where the two had fallen, it was very, very high up and impossible to climb. She sighed, "Where are we?"

The child didn't answer, they only got up, taking her hand with them. She tried to move, only to feel a sharp pang of pain in her leg. She hissed, rubbing it. Damn, she must've sprained it in the fall.

The child tapped her shoulder, drawing her attention away from her leg, _[Are you okay?]_

"I'll be fine," Charm answered, standing up. It wasn't something that she couldn't walk off, she can worry about it later. "Oh, uhm, can you hear me?" She asked. She assumed that the child could, seeing as she answered her earlier. The child nodded. "Oh, good..." She nodded, looking around, taking in her surroundings.

She was in a cave, a large one at that. There was an opening in front of her, leading to a different area. There was a bit of light coming from there, so she had a small sliver of hope that some one, or thing, was in there.

Charm remembered the stories that her mama would tell her to get her to sleep. Stories about how the humans with magic trapped monsters underground a mountain. The only thing keeping them from freedom was a strong barrier. Apparently, it was one way, anything could fall in, but nothing could get out. Charm had never actually believed it, at least until this moment.

She honestly didn't know whether she had just finally gone insane or if this was actually real. I mean, that was one hell of a fall, maybe she hit her head and was just dreaming this all up. There was no possible way that there was a smiling yellow flower in front of them, just staring at her.

When the... Flower looked at her, its eyes narrowed, "This is new..." It muttered, more to itself, but still kept a wide smile on its face.

"What the--"

" _Howdy_!" The flower greeted cheerily, "I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

"What the actual f--"

"Hmm... You're new to the underground, aren'tcha?" He asked, "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me would have to do!"

Suddenly, a strange feeling pulled from inside her chest. Charm's eyes widened when a black heart, no bigger than her hand, appeared in front of her. It made a strange sensation spread through her body, the same one she felt when she used her magic, actually.

Charm's eyes narrowed, somehow, she could feel a different sort of... Feeling. Most likely a magical one, and it came from the yellow flower in front of her. It felt sinister, dangerous even, and gave of a certainty for bloodlust.

Charm glanced over to the child, who had a heart floating in front of them as well, except theirs was red and only half as big as hers. "See that heart?" Flowey continued, "That's your _soul_! The very culmination of your being! Your soul starts out weak, but it can grow stronger if you gain lots of **LV**!"

"What's LV?" Charm asked, almost hesitantly. This flower thing is giving her chills.

"Why, it's _love_ , of course! You want some love, don't you?" It asked, "Well, don't worry, I'll share some with you!" The flower winked, sticking his tongue out through his mouth. Tiny white stars came over to both Charm and the child. Instinctively, Charm grabbed their hand, pulling them a bit closer to herself, wanting to protect them if anything else. "Down here, love is shared through... Little white... ' _Friendliness pellets'!_ "

If there was anything that Charm learned in her years by herself, it was not to trust sketchy dandelions, or whatever the _hell_ this thing was. As soon as the ' _friendliness pellets_ ' came flying at the two of them, Charm moved both of them away, completely dodging the slow moving stars.

Flowey's smile twitched, his eyes narrowing, "Hey buddy. You missed them," he stated in a restrained tone, somehow trying to keep whatever shred of happiness left in his voice. "Lets try this again, okay?" He brought out more 'friendliness pellets', this time much faster, barely giving them time to dodge.

Now, Flowey was beginning to get agitated, "Is this a joke!?" He demanded angrily. "Are you brain-dead? Run into the _bullets_!" He paused, catching himself, "I-I mean friendliness pellets!"

The damage was already done. There was no way in _hell_ she was going to let her or the child touch the bullets. She moved them out of the way of the charging bullets again, glaring at Flowey.

Flowey looked pissed, his face contorted into anger, "You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer!" Suddenly, the white bullets began to appear from all around, encasing us. There was no escape!

" ** _Die_** ," he ordered and then the stars came. Flowey laughed hysterically, as Charm's eyes darted around the room, desperately looking for an escape, but finding none. They were going to die.

Then, everything disappeared. A small fire ball that burned a bright white lit up, and hit Flowey square in the face. Flowey yelped, being flung in the opposite direction. All the stars disappeared and was replaced by a woman.

She was a tall woman and had a gentle face that resembled one of a goats. She wore a starch white gown that went to her feet, which were bare.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such poor, innocent youths."


	4. III

Chapter Three:  
Toriel, the goat lady, had been really kind to Charm and the child. Charm didn't sense and killing intent whatsoever. She was very motherly, gently teaching the two how to get around in the underground. She explained how it was full of puzzles and such, and that it was full of monsters, that may try to hurt them.

Charm didn't quite understand why. She wasn't going to engage anyone anyway, but just in case Toriel told them what to do. "If you ever in a situation where you have to fight someone, you should act. Stall for time until I come and help you."

Charm frowned at this, "What if you're not there to help?"

Toriel's motherly smile faltered, "I'll always be here, so there will be no worries about me not being here. Here," she stopped walking in front of a very worn training dummy. "You may practice on this dummy. Talk to it until it is able to be spared." Charm rose an eyebrow, but Toriel motioned towards them, silently encouraging them to engage and talk to the dummy.

"Uhm," Charm glanced at the child, who stood beside her. "O-Okay... Hey there. I like your... _Worn leather patches?"_

Somehow, the dummy turned a light pink, as if it were to blush. "Well done!" Toriel praised her lightheartedly, leading her into the other room.

Toriel introduced Charm and the child to the rest of the ruins, exposing them to more puzzles, and even introducing them to monsters that she's never dreamed of seeing before. A few of them tried to fight her and the child but remembering Toriel's advice, they were easily able to befriend it, and even earned a few coins from doing so.

At one point, Toriel challenged them to walk to the end of the hall, by themselves, then ran ahead of them. It wasn't a very hard feat. After a few minutes of walking, they found her hiding behind a large pillar. She congratulated them on being able to walk by themselves, and told them that she needed to run some errands, which was why she left them alone in the first place. Charm thought it was no problem really, but she seemed really worried for their wellbeing, as if they were her own children.

"Do what you have to do," Charm told her. By the look of slight relief of her face, she was obviously grateful that Charm was understanding enough. Toriel had even gave them an old flip phone, in case something happened and they needed to contact her. Toriel had also warned them not to leave the ruins or cause any trouble. Charm gratefully took the phone, placing it into her very worn bag carefully, waving Toriel off as she left the two alone.

As soon as she was out of sight, the child began to walk off, "Wait," Charm called after them, making them turn around. She bit her lip. Toriel did just say for them not to leave the ruins, but a bit of harmless exploring couldn't hurt, right? "Fine. Let's go."

✨•✨•✨•✨

The ruins hadn't been too big. Charm and the child had made a lot new friends with a species, such as ' _Froggits' 'Vegamites_ ' and even a shy ghost by the name of ' _Napstablook_ '. Charm seemed to like him the most, he had a funny sense of humor, and was actually a bit cute, really.

Anyways, he gave her a tape with his favorite songs he made on it, and meekly invited them to come to his house sometime in a place called ' _Waterfall_ '.

Toriel even called in on them, occasionally checking to see if they were okay, and even their preferences on butterscotch or cinnamon. Charm didn't really mind, but the Child specifically liked butterscotch over cinnamon.

They had also done a lot of walking, to the point that Charm's leg began to throb, loudly reminding her that it was twisted and she would probably need medical attention sometime in the near future.

Charm tried to make sure she didn't limp too much, so the child wouldn't notice, but they did.

The child, who had been leading them through the maze that was the ruins, stopped in their tracks. "Eh? What's wrong?" Charm asked, when they turned to her.

They dug into their pocket, pulling out a wrinkly-wrapped purple candy, handing it to Charm. It was a monster candy, the same one that the Child had taken when they first started to explore the ruins. "I can't take that," she sighed, at the moment, it was the only thing that had to eat, and in the case if they got lost, she'd hate to have wasted the only thing they had.

The child shook their head, pushing it out to her even more, insisting that she'd eat it.

"No, I'm fine," Charm insisted, looking away. She spotted a large tree in one of the other rooms. "Hey, look. Maybe it'll have some food on it, c'mon." Charm grabbed the child's hand, leading them into the other room. Sure enough, there was a tree, yet it was bare of any fruits, or leaves.

The child placed the candy in her hand, with a determined look on their face. [ _Eat it_ ,] they demanded.

Charm opened her mouth to argue with the child, but was interrupted by the phone that Toriel gave them. "Oh! There you are!" A voice behind them said. Charm turned around to see Toriel herself looking at them. "I thought I told you to stay put," she scolded lightly. "Oh well, I guess I cannot help the curiosity of a child. I hope you don't mind, I've made Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie." Toriel took them by the hand, leading them to her house.

Inside her house was fairly big, at least bigger than Charm has ever been. The flooring was a yellowish wood, that matched the walling as well. In center view was a staircase leading downwards. On the right side was a hall with a few doors on it, on the left a sitting room with a doorway as well.

"This is your new home, young ones, I hope you feel comfortable with living here," she continued to hold their hands, leading down the right hall, and in front of a door. "Here is your room. I certainly hope you do not mind, there is only one bed, so you might have to share." She gingerly patted both of their heads with her soft paws, her fingers sifting through Charm's messy bun.

"It's perfectly fine," Charm replied. Although she disliked being treated as a child -- she was about sixteen after all -- she missed the feeling of having a mother, although she was too stubborn to admit it. She couldn't help but develop the feeling of love for her, and it almost hurt to leave her side. "Thank you, Toriel. This... This is really kind of you."

Toriel smiled down at Charm -- she was a very tall goat woman after all, she was at least a foot or two taller than her. "Do not think too much of it, my child. I wish for you to have the best care here, seeing as you're going to stay here forever." Charm's eyes widened, and she nearly choked, _forever!?_

"Oh, I must finish the pie, if you need me, I'll be in the kitchen," then she hurried off, heading in the other direction, leaving just Charm and the child.

"Wanna see inside?" She asked, and the child nodded, opening the door and flicked on the lights.

Inside was a reddish room, fully equipped with a bed, a dresser, two lamps, a toy box and a large wardrobe. There were plush toys off to the side, making the room even more childish. The Child went to the toy box, curiously opening it. Although the toys inside looked very interesting, the Child still kept the neutral expression they had on their face.

Charm frowned when she saw the size of the bed. Far too small for anyone her size to fit. "You can't take the bed, I'll sleep on the ground," she suggested, pulling her bag over and lying it softly on the ground, so she could use it as a pillow.

The Child frowned, definitely not liking this idea, trying to tug on her hand to bring her too the bed, but she was too exhausted, and did not want to move. [You take the bed, I'll sleep on the floor], the Child suggested, but Charm shook her head.

"I'm too big for the bed," she explained. "I wouldn't be able to fit. Go on, get in the bed, I really don't mind," Charm gave the child a comforting smile, making them sigh, but climb in the bed anyway.

A moment of silence passed between them, before Charm broke it. "Hey, kid?" The Child turned to look at her, they seemed a bit sleepy, their eyes droopy and a soft yawn escaped their mouth, causing her to yawn in turn. "What's you name? I don't wanna have to keep calling you kid."

The Child paused for a moment, before finally answering [ _F - R - I - S - K]._

" _Frisk_?" The child, Frisk, nodded. "That's a amazing name," Frisk beamed. "Well, good night, Frisk."

[ _Good night.]_


	5. IV

Chapter Four:

How she got herself into this, she would never know. It all honestly happened so fast, she could barely process it.

After she and Frisk, woke up, there was a slice of pie on the ground beside them. Charm immediately had given it to the child, she didn't care for sweets so much. After Frisk eagerly finished the pie, they went to the sitting room where Toriel was reading a book.

Apparently, they had been sleeping for quite a few hours, which was good for Charm at least, having only been able to get an half hour or maybe even an hour if she was lucky of rest for the past couple of weeks. More men were joining the Hunt, seeking and prosecution humans with magic, sometimes even selling them on the magic-slave-trading market, making it very hard to travel from place to place or make any kind of money.

Recently, someone came out with a device where they check your blood, and in mere minutes, they can tell if you're a human or if you have magic, and it terrified Charm. Being able to sleep on a restricted mountain was honestly a blessing, she was able to get her scrambled thoughts together, but she never anticipated to meet Frisk or fall into the Underground.

Anyways, Toriel was sitting in an old rocking chair reading a book which looked like it was about... Snails. Huh. Interesting.

Toriel was quite enthusiastic about showing them both the snail book and 72 uses for them, "For example," she began. "Snails have a chainsaw like tongue called a radula!" Charm rose an eyebrow.

"Really?" Toriel nodded, pointing to where it was in the book and showed her. "Wow, okay."

Then, Frisk began to sign, [ _How do I get back home_?] Toriel looked at them, a bit surprised, Charm was too! She didn't think they'd want to go home, but also was a bit surprised Toriel knew sign language.

"Go home? This is your home," she replied with a strained smile. "Would you like to hear another fact?" She didn't even want for a response to continue, "Snails do not make good shoelaces!" She giggled at her own little joke, but Frisk didn't so much as smirk.

_[How do I exit the Ruins?]_

"Frisk..." Charm muttered, rubbing her head. This was a bit awkward, but she didn't say anything else. Frisk was right, although she enjoyed every moment of staying with Toriel, she would need to get back to the surface. There were still humans with magic suffering up there, and as long as she was hiding down here, she could do nothing to help them!

Toriel's face visibly darkened, "I will be back," she announced, getting up out of the rocking chair, and leaving the room, disappearing down the staircase leading god knows where.

Frisk and Charm exchanged looks, "We should... Probably stay here..." Charm muttered, not wanting to cause and more unneeded trouble.

Frisk didn't agree with this idea, and ran after Toriel, fleeing down the steps, "F-Frisk! Wait!" Charm called behind the child, going after them.

The child was swift and easily caught up with the older goat woman, who eyes were narrowed and her mouth pressed in a thin, stern line. "At the end of this hall lies the end of the Ruins," she said, "I plan on destroying it, so no one may exit the Ruins again! Go back upstairs," Toriel walked off again, faster this time.

"Wait, _what_!?" Charm cried, destroy the door!? The only door that was their way out of the Ruins and back to the surface at that!

Frisk ran again, catching up with Toriel easily. Charm, on the other hand, still had a sprained leg that needed to be treated, and could definitely not go as fast as the two others. Luckily, Toriel was loud, so she could hear her as she slowly paced herself to the others.

"Don't you see? The Underground is full of Monsters that will try to hurt you. If you don't listen to me, you'll get killed, just like the others," she took a deep breath. "And if that won't kill you then he... Asgore... Will. I am only trying to protect you, so please go back upstairs!" And then they were off, running again, chasing each other while Charm stuck to walking.

Toriel stopped again, "This is your last warning, go back upstairs," then she turned upwards and went down a different hall.

Beginning to feel unsettling chills down her back, Charm moved closer to Frisk, grabbing their hand, just in case something happened, and together, the two walked ahead, facing whatever Toriel had for them headstrong and ready.

"Fine. If you two are so determined to go, then prove it," Toriel demanded. "Prove to me that you are strong enough!" Then, just like with Flowey, Charm felt a tugging at her chest and once again, there was a black heart in front of her, which apparently was her Soul.

Then, the two of them were surrounded by large balls of white-hot fire that broke sweat on Charm's forehead. The balls of fire came head on, but Charm moved, luckily being able to push Frisk out of the way as the fire, which happened to follow their movements as well. Charm rolled, as the fire balls connected with earth, and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"Fight me!" Toriel yelled angrily, getting more fireballs ready.

"Toriel please, you don't want to do this!" Charm pleaded with her, desperately hoping that something inside her may change, hopefully for the better.

"Then prove to me that you're strong enough to go out there and protect yourself!" She yelled back, very through with them, throwing her fire balls at the two. They weaved in and out of each other, making them much more harder to dodge.

Charm ducked, letting it skim over her chest. Frisk, on the other hand, got heavily hit. A yelp escaped their mouth, and they fell back, their purple and blue sweat shirt singed from the fire.

"Frisk!" Charm called, their heart seemed to glow fainter, or at least much less brighter than it was before, and there was a small, nearly unnoticeable crack in it.

Charm turned to Toriel, glaring, "Toriel, this needs to stop! You're hurting us!" Charm said, attempting to spare her, like they had done with all the monsters they came across in the Ruins.

"What do you think that will achieve!? I said, fight me or run away!" She screamed, throwing another attack at them. Frisk gasped, covering their small head, and Charm pulled them into her chest, squeezing her eyes shut.

The fire hit Charm's back and her back arched, and she let out a mangled yelp in pain. Somehow, the pain in her leg seemed to increase, pricking tears in her eyes.

Frisk gasped at Charm and she smiled at them, hoping they wouldn't get too scared, even though she was hurt, terribly badly.

She moved off Frisk, and turned to Toriel, who was still glaring but it had softened by a lot. They tried once again to spare her, only to have her look away, "S–Stop looking at me like that!" She threw several more fireballs, but they all somehow missed the two.

They tried again to spare her, "You'll just die, just like all the rest..." She threw more balls of fire, but again, they somehow missed. "I'm trying to help you! I'm trying to keep you safe, can't you see that!?" Again, with the fire balls, and again, they all missed.

Toriel stopped, not saying anything for about a minute, and looked down. Finally, she sighed, "I'm pathetic. I can't even save one life," she looked back up. There were tears in her soft, gentle eyes, that made Charm's heart clench with guilt.

"You must not feel like you belong here, don't you? You must want to go back home," she continued. "You may go, but be careful... It's dangerous out there, and I won't be there to protect you."

"We know that, Toriel," Charm said, shakily getting up. She could feel blood on her back, and realized that she must be seriously injured. She didn't want to tell Toriel this, she was already sad that they were leaving her, this would only add to the weight upon her shoulders. "We know that you want to protect us and we-we know that outside of those doors, is filled with Monsters that could definitely be a danger to us, but... You have to trust us. We can take care of ourselves, but I swear on my life that I will never forget the kindness that you have shown us."

Toriel smiled, showing all her pointy goat teeth, and a tear streaked her cheek. Frisk smiled, making a sign, [ _We_ _l_ _ove you, Toriel]._

Toriel came over and hugged them both, "Thank you, my children, you don't know how much this means," Toriel sniffed. "Be-Be safe, okay. Make sure to watch your HP," She pulled away, a broad smile on her face, "I love you too. Goodbye."

Toriel finally let go, and left down the hall, her soft goat feet made patters against the old stone flooring, and out of the room.

A soft, bitter smile rested on Charm's lips. She almost didn't want Toriel to go, since she was so kind and helpful to them. But, nevertheless, they did need to get out of the Ruins.

Frisk stepped into Charm's vision, and before Charm could say, or do, anything, they shoved a piece of food down her throat. "Ack-- what are you doing!?" Charm choked, having no other choice but to swallow the food they had forced her to eat.

After a few seconds, a warmth filled her body. Charm took a sharp intake of breath at the strange feeling that spread through her system. She felt her wounds get... Slightly better, more manageable at least. She should be able to get up and walk a considerable distance. If she ignored most of the pain, that is. She should be fine, at least until they had found a place to stop and cool down.

"Interesting..." Charm muttered with a small groan as she got up. "We'd better head off, huh?" Frisk nodded and Charm muzzled their already messy hair. "C'mon then, let's go."


	6. V

Chapter Five:

Charm _hated_ snow.

In fact, she hated the cold in general. Anything cold, she despised. So, after stepping from the mild-moderate atmosphere that was the Ruins and into the tundra that was the Underground definitely did not please her.

Charm shuddered, crossing her bare arms over her chest. All she wore was a tank top and jeans, since she had given her only jacket to Frisk. They would need it more, and she felt... Responsible over them, if that made sense. Yes, she knew that she had just met the young child, but it felt inappropriate to leave them unattended. They could get hurt, or worse, and Charm refused to carry the sorrow of them possibly dying out in the middle of nowhere, in the freezing, _fucking cold_ , by themselves.

Besides, who would keep her company if she got lost?

After walking a few paces, Charm got a chill down her back. At first she had assumed that it was because of the freezing cold climate, but she quickly dismissed this thought. She trusted her instincts, it hadn't led her wrong in the past decade that she travelled the earth alone.

Then, she heard a branch snap, so whoever was following them definitely wasn't very secretive, or quiet really. They knew what they were doing. They were toying with them. Charm definitely didn't like it.

She and Frisk found themselves at a very wide, and tall gate. Charm assumed that it was supposed to keep the enemies aren't from the area out. " **Hey** ," a deep grumbling male voice behind them spoke up. Charm narrowed her eyes, so they had decided to reveal themselves? " **Aren't you going to greet a friend? Turn around and shake my hand."**

Charm glanced down at Frisk, expecting their face to be layered with fear, but instead, there was a small smile, almost a smirk, on their face. Although it was very well hidden, she did not miss it. Frisk was enjoying this, they were having fun, even.

Frisk turned, listening to their commands, and promptly shook their hand. Much to Charm's surprise, a loud farting noise emitted from their hand, and then, Frisk and the mysterious monster busted out in laughter. "Ah-hah, the good old whoopee cushion trick. Never gets old. I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton."

Charm simply stared at him, he was short, but only few inches from herself, really. His eyes were replaced by dark sockets with a pinprick of a white pupil. His mouth was twisted into a large grin, it almost seemed friendly, actually, but somehow, it didn't convince Charm. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his light, baby blue hoodie with fur around the hood and black shorts with white strips on their sides. On his bony feet, were pink slippers, that definitely didn't look appropriate for the weather they were in at the moment, actually.

"Hey kid, it's usually polite to give your name after someone tells you theirs," Sans says and Charm blinks for a second, before laughing awkwardly.

"Heh, sorry, lost in thought for a second," she said with a small laugh, crossing her arms over chest tightly, trying desperately to keep her heat to herself. "Name's Charm. This is Frisk."

He nodded, "Nice. You know, I'm supposed to be on patrol to look out for humans, right now, but ya know, I don't really care about it too much. Now, my brother Papyrus, oh, he's a human-hunting fanatic! He would freak if he saw you," Sans paused. "That's him over there, actually. Hey, would you do me a favor?"

Before Charm could reply, he continued, "It'd make my brother really happy if he could capture a human, so--"

"You want your brother to capture us?" She asked, a bit of incredulousness was in her tone. She remembered the warnings that Toriel had given them, and she didn't want to risk getting captured and taken to... Who did she call them? _Asgore?_

For some reason, the name sent shivers down her back, and it wasn't because of the freezing weather.

"It's okay, he's harmless," Sans assured with a wink.

"Of course..." Charm said, although there was a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

"Here, go through those gates. Papyrus built them, and he made them too wide to stop anyone anyway." Charm nodded, walking through the wide gates behind Frisk, and to a different area.

There was a small, conveniently shaped lamp the size of Frisk, and a wooden post. "Go hide behind that conveniently shaped lamp. And you can hide behind the sentry post," he said, pointing to each area. They both complied, hiding behind said areas and waiting for Sans' brother.

When he finally came, Charm could barely hold in her giggles. He was a very tall, flamboyant skeleton with a red scarf, silvery armor on his chest, and with a matching blue and gold bottom. He spoke loudly, and acted quite frustrated when Sans told him he wasn't watching for humans, in cleverly crafted puns of course.

Charm immediately felt like she could trust the skeleton that seemed to desire the approval of ' _Undyne_ ' whoever that was. Much like Frisk, she wanted to protect him from unnecessary harm.

But, she also was not the person to underestimate others.

According to Papyrus, they are both guards, and needed to be on the look out for humans. So, what would they do if they found a human? And why would Papyrus, a uptight, but adorable skeleton at first glance, be sent to watch out for humans? Did he have some kind of power she hadn't accounted for yet?

Charm turned to Sans, and again, chills ran down her spine. If Papyrus was as fun loving and silly as he showed, then Sans... Sans wasn't to be trusted as easily. Sans could quite possibly be a dangerous threat, and Charm would hate to have to fight him. She got the feeling that she would, well, have a bad time...  
✨•✨•✨•✨  
If there was anything Charm hated besides the cold was heights.

Charm was terrified, **terrified** , of heights. Yes, she had climbed Mount. Ebott but that was only because there were Anti-Magic people in the area, and she didn't want to risk being caught. Mount. Ebott was the only area that she could get a good night's sleep without having to worry about people hunting her down in the morning.

After going through the snowy forest, and meeting all kinds of new friends, such as a dog with a ever-growing neck, a funny Snowdrake, two happily married dogs, who nearly killed her and Frisk, had they not convince them that they was a puppy as well, and more. Not to mention Papyrus' funny puzzles that he seemed so happy when the two finished.

So, despite the cold, or the fact that Charm was freezing to the bone because of the snow, or that she really couldn't feel a finger or twos, or that her throat had constricted so much that she couldn't talk at all, having to communicate to Frisk in sign language, she was having fun. _Yay._

So, making her climb onto a wooden bridge in the windy, cold weather, with a deep abyss of the unknown below, was certainly pushing it.

[ _Come on! We need to go_ ,] Frisk urged, trying to pull her hand, but her feet was steadily in the ground, refusing to move at all.

[ _No! I refuse_ ,] Charm replied angrily, puffing her cheeks out. Yes, it was childish, and yes Frisk was mad at her, but in all honesty, she felt like if she moved, her toes would quite possibly fall off.

Frisk sighed, looking down. Charm her them sniffle and sighed, guilt rippling her body. [ _Fine_!] Charm declared, throwing her hands up in the air. [ _Fine, I'll go, just... Stop that_!]

Frisk giggled, guilt tripping Charm into going unto the rickety wooden bridge filled them with determination.

Charm gave a raspy sigh, slowly stepping onto the bridge. The only thing keeping her from falling off were the thin ropes on the sides. Her stomach twisted, as she took a few steps and wind blew, rocking the bridge back and forth.

Charm yelped, squeezing her eyes shut, she couldn't do it, she couldn't do it. She wanted desperately to get off the bridge and run away, in fact every single instinct in her body told her to do that. The only thing keeping her there was Frisk, who had been holding her hand silently encouraging her to continue.

They began to walk again, getting near the end of the bridge. Frisk seemed to have no problem, but Charm... Well, she had began to feel lightheaded and dizzy. She tried to hold onto the ropes for balance, but it was freezing cold, instinctively making her pry her fingers away.

Charm realized that she had been in the cold for far too long, much longer than anyone should. Her fingers began to tingle, they had done so a while back, but this time it was worse. The cold weather was setting her magic off, making it unpredictable.

Charm's eyes trailed down to the black bracelet that encircled her arm tightly. It gave off a black hue. This is not good.

Frisk tapped her arm, grasping her attention, and frowning at her. Charm laughed nervously, which turned into a whooping cough. She subtly covered her forearm with her hand, concealing the bracelet.

And they continued on, till nearly the end of the bridge, when they were stopped by Papyrus and Sans. Charm didn't care to listen to Papyrus' puzzle this time, not that she was trying to be rude, but she just couldn't listen to him.

She was shaking, fear and pain had clouded her better judgment, and she stared over the edge with wide eyes. Thousands of possibilities filled her head, and even though she tried to stop it, and she had tried to mask her fear, she couldn't do it. She just couldn't do it. She knew she was going to fall.

A body slipped under her arm, pulling her away from the black abyss below. "Hey, kiddo. I think you need to _chill_ ," Sans' familiar voice filled her ears. "You feeling alright? You look a bit _chilled to the bone_ to me."

"Oh dear! It seems as though my puzzles have been maybe a bit too intense! I apologize, human, I did not mean to cause you trouble!" Papyrus exclaimed in his loud voice, although it sounded a bit more concerned than usual.

"Hey, maybe you can show the other human your puzzles until I get back," Sans suggested. Papyrus seemed happy with this, because he had already began to ramble about how amazing his puzzles were.

"Okay, c'mon kiddo. I know a shortcut," Sans muttered, and suddenly Charm was engulfed in magic.

Charm gasped, instantly realizing what he was doing, " _No, wait_!" She screamed, but it was too late.  
✨•✨•✨•✨  
Teleporting the kid in and out of the void was no problem for Sans, usually. He'd done it a number of times with Frisk in the past timelines, so he assumed that the kid would be no problem. What he hadn't expected was her reaction.

Since they weren't that far the to the house took no longer than a second, but as soon as they landed, the kid moved away, holding their forearm, as if they were wounded. "Kid? What's--" a groan left her lips, her face twisted with pain. Sweat beaded her forehead and her eyes screwed shut. "I didn't mean to tickle your b--"

" **Stop** ," she muttered darkly, trying to regain her breath. Sans blinked in surprise, a bit of anger boiling in him. He was about to respond, but she beat him to it. "Sorry, it's just... I didn't expect... You to teleport me like that," she apologized, between coughs. "Your magic, it... Set off my bracelet." She took a deep breath, flashing him a smile. "Sorry Sans..."

Sans rose a bony eyebrow, curiosity getting the best of him. "What does my magic have to do with your bracelet?" He eyed the metal on her arm, it looked almost similar to the one used in the CORE but at this distance, it too far to tell.

The kid went silent for a few seconds, "Where are we?" She asked with a cough. Her voice was getting raspier, it was probably hard for her to talk right now. He remembered seeing her use sign language with the other kid earlier.

"You probably shouldn't be talking right now, kid. I know sign language, so you can use that," he chided.

She rose an eyebrow, questioning this, but breathed a sigh of relief, [ _Great_ ,] she grinned.

"So are you gonna answer my question?" Sans asked, trying to turn the conversation back to what she had said. What was so important about that bracelet? What made it react strangely to magic?

 _[... Do you have bandages? My leg is hurt,]_ she asked, changing the subject. [It may be infected, I'll have to look at it later. Any type of bandage would do, really, I just need something I can splint my leg in.]

Sans gave her a short stare. Even though he wanted to know all about this 'bracelet' that was on her arm and why, she was injured, probably sick. He did say he'd make sure nothing would happen to the two humans as they passed through, as long as they participated in his brother's puzzles. A deal was a deal, and even though he hated promises, he wasn't the one to break them.

"There's a first aid kit in the bathroom, I'll get it," Sans told the kid, getting up, and heading over. A bit of a irritated growl was in his voice, although it was barely noticeable. He hated not knowing what was going on, and right now, this human, which was certainly an anomaly to the timeline, at least to the previous ones he faced, was practically a growing enigma, teasing him in the face.

Sans didn't like the kid, but not in a negative way. He didn't completely dislike the kid, but she was too mysterious for him for completely trust. There was something off about her, something different than Frisk or any of the other humans he had faced. She gave off a weird vibe, one he didn't trust, or at least not completely.

It was strange, the way she reacted after the teleport. Frisk had always been a bit shocked, distorted even, but quickly regained themselves. But, this kid -- Charm, she said her name was -- didn't like it at all, and said that his magic had effected something with that bracelet of hers.

Whatever it was, it interested him. He wanted to get a closer look at it. Maybe he could just ask her about it, make a lively conversation and then strike up a joke, making it easier for her to hand over the bracelet. And, if that didn't work, he could always just take it, while she slept maybe. She probably wouldn't mind, after all, it was just a bracelet.  
✨•✨•✨•✨  
Charm was very grateful that Sans could easily patch her up. Although she insisted she didn't need help with the splint, he wanted to help anyway, so she complied. He had even went to a place called 'Grillby's' and brought her a soup, to warm her up, along with wrapping her in thick blankets.

All in all, Charm was more than grateful. The experience of being wrapped in blankets, fed, and cared for was something she hadn't experienced since... Well, since before she could remember. So, she was very happy Sans decided to heal her back to health.

Exhaustion soon caught up with her, after walking all that way, for a long distance, on an injured leg, she couldn't wait to curl up and sleep. But, that didn't seem to be happening quite yet, because Frisk and Papyrus entered the house.

"Hello human!" Papyrus greeted, although his concerned tone still lingered in his voice. "Are you alright!? I sincerely apologize for bringing you such stress, I did not mean for you to--"

"I'm fine," Charm laughed, her voice was feeling much better after eating that soup. She'd have to thank the chef later, it was rather delicious. "It was my fault, I suppose your puzzle was so well made that I didn't know if I could solve it," she winked. "But, you are the great Papyrus, so if I needed help, I could always to turn to you, yes?"

Papyrus turned a deep orange at her carefully crafted words, his self esteem seemed to sky rocket, and he grinned from ear to ear, pride swelling in his chest. " _Wowie_! I suppose you're right! I, the great Papyrus, is the best at puzzles! To think, it was difficult enough to stop a human like you! To celebrate, I, Master Chef Papyrus, shall make spaghetti for dinner!"

Charm laughed, happy with herself that she had made his temporary worry disappear, and shifted her attention to Frisk, who had dripping sleeves, and a grin on their face. "What happened to you?" She deadpanned.

[ _Snowball fight_ ,] Frisk giggled, [ _I won_!] They took a few steps towards Charm, but she stopped them.

"No, you aren't touching me until you get completely dried off," Charm scolded. She could practically feel the cold radiating from them. "Go dry off, or something, then you can come tell me all about it."

Frisk beamed, running up the steps, with Papyrus trailed closely behind them, offering to give them clothes to wear. Charm sighed, leaning on the couch arm. "Thanks for telling my brother that," Sans spoke up, after being silent the entire time. Charm nearly forgot he was standing right there. "He was really concerned about you.

"No problem," Charm grinned, watching as Sans slid into the other side of the couch. "He's adorable, actually."

Sans laughed, his eyes trailing to Charm's unconcealed bracelet. "Nice bracelet. What's it made of, if you don't mind me asking."

Charm glanced down, instinctively covering it with her arm, away from sight. "Oh, I don't know. Got it a while ago, actually."

A lazy look covered Sans' face, and he leaned back in the couch. "Ya know, I can take a look at it. Tell ya what kind of--"

" _No_ ," Charm denied politely. "It's fine. It's just a cheap bracelet, anyway. Not really worth it." A loud thud reached Charm's ears followed by the sound of loud giggling. Charm hid a laugh behind her hand, "I'd better go check on them." She pushed herself off the couch, shrugging off the thick blankets that encased her body, and walked up the steps and to the bathroom.


	7. VI

Chapter Six:  
The next few days were quite interesting. Sans and Papyrus had gladly invited the two humans into their home with welcome, bony arms. Charm had quickly gotten much better as well, although she still had a bit of a cough.

Charm had decided to play it safe, staying inside for the next couple of days. Frisk and Papyrus didn't seem to mind, in fact they joined her, staying up late on the couch, watching Mettaton, a talking robot, on the television, until it was bedtime, of course. Sans didn't mind as well, he had a few late night jobs, so Charm volunteered to put the two to bed, and read them bedtime stories before falling asleep.

Papyrus had also kindly shared his red racecar bed with Frisk, that way, they both got to hear bedtime stories, and therefore leaving her with the couch.

After Charm had put the two to bed, she decided that it was time to mix things up a bit. "Huh? Where is the book for the bedtime story, human!" Papyrus asked, rather confused when Charm had sat on the edge of the bed, the usual book she took off his bookshelf was not in her hands.

"Let's change it up a bit," Charm suggested with a smile. "How 'bout I tell you a story, instead of read one."

Frisk grinned, seemingly enjoying this grand idea, but Papyrus still looked a bit unsure. "Hmm... What story is it?"

Charm smirked, "The story is called ' _the Great Skeleton and the Amazing Human_ '."

This seemed to lighten Papyrus' mood, completely discarding any doubt he once had. "Okay! Tell the story!" He beamed, snuggling in his bed.

Charm smiled as she began. "Long ago in a far away kingdom, lived a skeleton by the name Papyrial. He was a great skeleton. He was cool and very smart. His goal was to become general of the kingdom's army and head off to the losing war with their neighboring country, Alpia!"

"Wowie! Papyrial sounds so amazing," Papyrus said with starry eyes.

"Shh, let me finish the story," Charm lightly scolded as she continued. "Papyrial had such big dreams, but he did not have the opportunity to attain them, for he was merely a traveler, going through all kingdoms, never being able to stop and get to know the people and the country.

"One day, he was walking through the market, casually shopping, when there was a loud scream of terror behind him. ' _The kingdom is under attack_!' A woman yelled, running away.

"The street went into an uproar, every man and monster was screaming and yelling and running. Children was being separated from their mothers, crying in the middle of a crowd. It was absolute chaos. Then, a child, no older than the age of six stumbled into Papyrial, and falling on their behind. Papyrial looked down, there was a human child, dazed, on the ground before him.

"Acting quickly, the great Papyrial scooped up the child, along all and any other children that he came across. After all, Papyrial was a strong skeleton. He easily carried ten children on his shoulders, and lifted them to safety. The children were amazed by Papyrial's strength, they had never seen anything like it.

"After the chaos died down, and everything went back to normal, Papyrial, who had been sitting in his cart with the children, heard a shout above the crowd. ' _Friskus_!' A loud, almost familiar man's voice shouted over the crowd. ' _Friskus, where are you!? Friskus_!'

"' _Dad_!' One of the children in Papyrial's cart exclaimed, standing up at the sound of the man's voice. ' _Dad! I'm over here_!' Heavy footstep pounded the ground, and before Papyrial knew it, a large monster stood before him. He was tall, and wore shiny armor, bright clothing. He also had a large beard and bunny shaped ears.

"A look of relief clouded the bunny-monster's face, ' _Friskus, there you are_!' He sighed, picking up the child. Papyrial could only stare at the bunny-monster. Something about him looked very, very familiar.

"And then it clicked, the bunny-monster who was currently hugging his child, was the king of the country!" Papyrus had an intrigued look on his face, but he looked very surprised when Charm stopped talking.

"W-wait! What about the great Papyrial!?" Papyrus exclaimed, obviously upset that Charm had ended the story so abruptly.

"You'll have to find out what happens next time," Charm winked, tucking the two into the racecar bed. "Right now, it is bedtime, so good night," she smiled softly at the two. Although Papyrus was somewhat disappointed, he also had a very exhausted look and sighed.

"Okay," he agreed begrudgingly. "Goodnight human!" Goodnight other human!"

[ _Goodnight Papyrus_ ,] Frisk sighed, their movements a bit sluggish with sleep. [ _Goodnight Charm_.]

"Goodnight, both of you," Charm said, leaving the door slightly open. She was barely down the last step when she heard the loud snoring from the two. She laughed a bit, going into the kitchen, and pouring herself a cup of water to drink before going back on the couch to read a book she found at the library.

"Hello Sans," she greeted aloud, hearing a muttered groan from the male skeleton behind her. She flipped the page casually, as Sans moved to sit on the couch beside her.

"What gave it away?" He asked, teasingly.

"Now, if I told you that, then I wouldn't be able to greet you whenever you try to scare me," she grinned mischeviously.

Over the past few days, Sans repeatedly tried to teleport beside her, and casually say hi. He had done it to Frisk a few times, which nearly scared them to death, but Charm herself was quite immune to it. Having dealt with teleportation tricks before, a common tactic used to send vital, quick information among Humans with Magic, she could usually feel a disturbance in the Void, or the familiar hum of his magic a few seconds before he himself appeared. She could tell it frustrated him when she predicted his arrival, but it was just so damn funny to see his reaction.

Sans rolled the prin-pricks of the eyes that he had, "Nice story you told the kid and Papyrus, by the way. It definitely left me _hanging_."

Charm let out a chuckling scoff as she turned the page. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I'm on my break," he said, shrugging carelessly. "Wanna go grab some Grillby's?"

"I'm good. I'm already pretty full from Papyrus' spaghetti," Charm replied, leaning against the couch, not taking her eyes off the book she was reading once. She happened to quite like the book, actually. It was a fantasy book, the setting was in the medieval time period, so there were witches, warlocks, princesses, kings, queens, and even a few douche-bag princes.

This particular book had been about two princesses that had fallen in love with each other, but the king had forbade them to marry. It was actually quite interesting and even a little heartwarming. Charm rarely gets the chance to curl up in a comfy, warm area with a nice book, so this was rather enjoyable.

"I guess that books a real _page-turner_ , huh?" Sans said, staring at the book she was reading.

"Yeah, it's really good. You should read it once I finish," she agreed, reading the next page.

"Meh, I'm more of a story listening type of guy," Sans shrugged.

"Then I'll read it aloud," Charm grinned. Sans quirked a bone brow, as Charm began explaining what was going on. "Okay, so there's these two princesses, right? They're both from two separate kingdoms, but they fell in love. The king, his name is Grond -- he's her step father -- of one of the princesses kingdoms, Amara's, vowed to never let the two get married. He believed that two woman getting married is ' _disgusting_ ' and ' _outrageous_ '. So, he keeps princess Amara locked in a tower, while he profiles different men to marry her.

"Now, in the other princess's kingdom, Danielle is her name, had heard of what was happening in King Grond's kingdom, and was alarmed. Her father, King Berlin, was delighted with the fact that his princess had found love, so he was equally upset when the tragic news of her never being able to marry her one true love.

"But, then Danielle got an idea. She decided to--" Charm's words were cut off by loud snoring. She looked over to see Sans had fallen fast asleep with a hand covering his chest, and his legs half on and off the couch. Charm laughed silently to herself, fixing his body so he could lie properly on the couch, and take up most of its space, and placed a heavy blanket on top of him.

Since there was no space left on the couch, Charm snatched one of the pillows and a blanket, and rested on the floor, after turning all the lights out, of course.

Soon, sleep had come to collect her tired body quickly, but nightmares had already stolen her away.  
✨•✨•✨•✨  
Sans woke up a while later in a difficult position on the couch. He groaned, why was he on the couch and not in his room? Where was that kid, Charm? Wasn't she reading a book to him? Huh, maybe he fell--

Then, an unsettling presence filled the room, one he's felt far too many times. His left eye socket inflamed with a fiery blue magic. Chara!? How? Where was that little--

There was a loud gasp and a figure shot up from the ground. They were coughing, trying to regain their breath. Sans moved, quickly climbing off the couch to hit the light switch.

Charm, sat rigidly on the ground, shaking, and holding her fore arm. Her eyes were squeezed closed and her forehead beaded with sweat. "Whoa, kid. Are you okay?" Sans asked, they must've had a bad nightmare or something. His blue eye disappeared immediately. " _Tibia_ honest, you look a little shaken up there. Do you need--" then they looked at them, and Sans' eye sockets widened.

The kid's eye turned a glowing dark purple, almost black, much like his did not a few seconds ago. But then, the kid winced, closing her eyes and holding her forearms with a hiss of pain. Sans was speechless, how did she do that!? He couldn't say it was Chara, that demon... Thing had red eyes. It must've been something different, something worse.

Sans nearly scoffed, what could possibly be scarier than that?! Quickly, she covered her eye with her hand, trying to regain control of her breathing. "S-Sorry, Sans," The kid muttered, giving him a strained smile. "Had a nightmare," she chuckled to herself, sitting up.

Her eyes were still closed, but she rubbed them a few times, and blinking them open. The dark purple lingered in her eyes for a few seconds, before fading away, and regaining it's usual murky, dark brown color. "What are you doing up?" She asked with a small yawn.

"Nothing. You sure you're okay, kid? You looked like you had seen a ghost. If you had a nightmare, you can tell me about it. I won't get _too_ _spooked_ , trust me."

"Fine," she answered firmly. "And no, but thanks for the offer. Is Frisk and Papyrus up yet?"

"Nah, it's still too early. Papyrus won't get up till later."

"And what about you? You don't usually get out of the bed until noon. If anything, your a bit of a _lazybones_ ," she teased. Sans' mouth twitched into a smirk, he always enjoyed a good pun. He had even thought of several to counter the one that the kid had said, but he was still very curious about that bracelet she was wearing.

After her nightmare and after he had teleported she immediately held her bracelet and flinched in pain. What was so significant about that bracelet that would give her physical injuries!?

"Hey, why don't we start on breakfast, so they can have something to eat when they wake up?" Charm suggested, getting off the floor. Her hands moved over up to her hair, swiftly tugging on it and taking it out of the bun it was in since she entered the Underground. Sans' eye sockets widened when he saw her hair fall out trailing down to her lower back, nearly past her knees.

Sans blinked at the length of her hair, not quite knowing whether to be shocked or impressed. "How'd you get your hair so long, goldilocks?" Sans asked, with a bit of a smirk at the nickname he had given her.

"Hm? Oh, it's just a... Thing that I have," Charm awkwardly answered, not quite knowing how to respond exactly. "Weird genetic trait I got from my mom and dad."

Sans rose a questioning bone-brow. First glowing purple eyes and now unnaturally long hair? He was beginning to think that she came from a very strange family with odd genes.

"Sans?" Charm spoke up, dragging him away from his curious thoughts.

"Oh, sorry kid. Just a little lost in thought."

"I asked if you had anything besides spaghetti," Charm sighed, frustrated with the unnecessary amount of pasta in the fridge, pantry, and cabinets.

"Nope. Paps likes to alotta that stuff so he can be ready for any _pasta-bility_ ," Charm snickered at his joke, rolling her eyes.

"Sans, it's too early for puns," she muttered, rubbing her face with her hand, but the smile still stayed on her face.

"Then why are you smiling?" He questioned with a laugh.

"I can't help it!" Charm giggled, turning back to the pantry.

Sans chuckled, a bit proud of himself that he had lightened the mood. While the kid's back was turned and she had been completely unsuspecting, he decided to give her soul a little look.

He silently called on his magic, and his left eye began inflamed with magic, turning a piercing blue. He looked at her soul, surprisingly seeing a onyx-black heart in the center of her being. A small look of surprise crossed Sans' milky-white features. Something wasn't quite right with her soul, now that he was giving her a closer look. It was like there was some kind of... Cover on it. Almost like a back film, but much stronger.

Sans shuddered, somehow a icy feeling crawling down his bony spine. Why was her soul giving him this odd feeling? What was so different about--

" _SANS_!" His eyes snapped away from her chest, and look up, the blue flare immediately leaving. Charm stared at him, wide-eyed, clutching her chest in her hand reflexively.

"Heh, sorry kid I--"

"Don't..." She muttered darkly, her hand beginning to shake from anger, "Don't look at my soul..."

Sans' eyes narrowed as she continued, "Just don't. You... Might not like what you find..." She looked up at him, her brown eyes were started to grow with watery tears. Before he could apologize or say anything, she ran out of the room, and went upstairs.

Sans' stared at nothing, trying to comprehend what had just happened. She was angry at him for looking at her soul. Although he felt like he should feel guilty... He wasn't.

Charm was a mystery to him, although there were alot of 'mysteries' in the Underground, she was different. She was a rare anomaly, at least until the Frisk resets.

Sans didn't like to make promises, but with the little time left that he had, he swore to find out the mystery behind the girl named Charm.


	8. VII

Chapter Seven:  
Hours turned into days and days to weeks. Charm was beginning to lose track how long she had been down here, living with the skeleton brothers. Although she did enjoy it -- who wouldn't enjoy spaghetti and terrible puns all day long. _Every_ day. _Yay_.

Puns aside, she didn't think she could avoid Sans any longer. After catching Sans peeking at her soul -- she didn't know how he did that without her knowing, but she'd found out nonetheless -- she felt like she couldn't... Trust him.

Completely avoiding him was the only option, seeing as she'd much, much, rather not talk about what he did, or hopefully didn't, see. But, with the rather small, two story home, avoiding a teleporting skeleton was much more difficult than Charm thought. At first, Charm wanted to teleport out of the room every time he'd enter the room, thus successfully be 'avoiding' said skeleton, but she didn't know the Undergrounds as well as Sans did. Because of this, it was very possible that she might get accidentally stuck in a wall or dead or something.

So, she decided to go explore the town that they were in that went by the name of 'Snowdin'. It was one of those towns where 'everyone knew everyone', the type she particularly disliked. That meant that rumors and potentially secrets, get travelled around faster. Charm feared that they might find out that she and Frisk were humans.

But, much to her surprise, the Monsters of the town didn't seem to notice -- and if they did, they didn't show any signs of caring. Charm and Frisk were very friendly, Frisk had even befriend a small, armless monster named ' _Monster Kid_ ', or his nickname, _MK_. He was very adorable, frequently falling on his face, which worried Charm, so she stuck a bandage on the bridge of his nose, just in case.

Monster Kid was obsessed with this _Undyne_ character. According to him, she was strong, powerful, and could definitely kick ass. Naturally, she wasn't someone Charm wanted to meet; much like how she saw Sans, she saw her as a threat to Frisk's safety, and even herself.

Now, Charm didn't want to fight anyone. She didn't want for anyone to get hurt, Monster or... _Human_. Honestly, she enjoyed the Underground. The Monsters' were nice, they had good food, she was given a home and a shelter and was being cared for -- which was still something she wasn't used to very much -- but she needed to get back to the Surface. As much as she'd want to forget her problems, as much as she wanted to live down in the Underground with Sans, Paps, and Frisk for ever and ever and... Ever, she couldn't afford too.

Her mind kept trailing back to all the people, adult and child alike, who were being taken from their loved ones and being hopelessly tortured and used. She saw herself in their situations and she desperately wanted to do something -- _anything_ \-- about it! Anyone could imagine the guilt she began to feel after staying down her with Sans and Papyrus and Frisk for over a few weeks, nearly a month. She couldn't sit here and... Procrastinate! She couldn't just tell herself over and over again that they'd be okay for one more day!? They were going to live for just _ONE MORE_ day?!

She could feel the guilt weighing on her shoulders and her sins crawling down her back. She needed a break.

Charm sighed, getting up from the couch that she sat on, Papyrus and Frisk laying down, silently sleeping as the television blared Mettaton's obnoxious mechanical voice. A late night walk would certainly help clear her mind... _Right_?

She started her tread out the house, turning left, near Waterfall, a place where Sans also worked as sentry, but tonight must've been his day off; he wasn't at his usual post.

Charm sighed, a small part of her wanted the company of the short skeleton. He'd probably make the journey a lot more bearing, but she also enjoyed the silence, so that didn't quite bother her as well.

Charm was lost in the depths of her deep thoughts when she heard the masculine voice of a friend, " _Water_ you doing here?" Sans asked. Charm flinched, her hand nearly coming down to jab him in the side, a technique used if/when she got jumped by Anti-Magic humans. If used effectively enough, it'd paralyze the person, long enough for Charm to give them a beat down.

When she noticed that it had only been Sans, she quickly retracted her hand and gave a long sigh. " _Dammit Sans_... Don't sneak up on me like that..." Charm murmured, running a hand through her hair. She had it in long, thick braids right now. It reached near her bottom.

Sans gave her a wary look, she was certainly on edge. That's a fact. "You doing okay kid? You don't look good. What are you even doing out this late?"

"The kids fell asleep watching Mettaton and I needed to clear my head." Charm explained, running a hand down her face, remembering her issues.

"What's up? Something bothering ya?" Sans asked.

"Yeah..."

"Wanna talk about it?"

Charm hesitated, contemplating whether or not to explain the situation and how she would, but finally, she gave a long sigh. "Okay, so... Let's let's say that there are a bunch of... _Squares_. Although each square is a, well, _square_ , there are also different colors and sizes of the squares. The squares always thought that they were the best, and anyone different were beneath them. Then, the _rectangles_ began to show up. The rectangles were different, being two times the regular size of the square, but the rectangles were very rare. These rectangles stuck together, in small groups, tribes if you will.

"The squares thought the rectangles were dangerous, since they were more powerful, so... They decided to kill them," Sans' eye sockets widened, stopping in his tracks as Charm finished. "B-But not all of them died. Some of them were taken away to be used for... Other purposes." Charm's face visibly darkened but she continued on anyway.

"S-So, what would you do if you were a rectangle and got stuck down here? I mean, there's a bunch of other ma-- I mean _rectangles_ on the Surface that need help; your help," Charm asked, finally turning to Sans, who had a semi-confused look on his face.

"Uh, I'd... Probably go to help the other rectangles, I guess...?" Sans answered, trying to understand her predicament.

Charm sighed, "But I've-- I mean, _the_ _rectangle_ , made a lot of friends down here, and... What if the rectangle doesn't want to go back?"

"How much danger are the other rectangles in?"

Charm shook her head, holding the bridge of her nose, "A lot, Sans. Like, _life threatening_..."

"Then, maybe you, I mean the... _Rectangle_ should help them, despite the fact that they want to stay down here where their friends are. If other rectangles are getting, you know, hurt, then isn't it their fault for not helping?"

Charm didn't reply for a full minute. Sans glanced over at her to see a tear slipping silently down her cheek. "H-hey kid? What's the matter?" Sans asked, rather nervously. Frisk never cried when they were around Sans, and Papyrus was too happy to ever truly cry. So, Sans couldn't help but feel awkward when this new human, this _mysterious_ human, shed tears.

"It's just... I've never really had a home like this... Like the one you and Papyrus and Frisk have," Charm admitted. "I don't want to give it up so easily, and then having to go back to other humans? Risking my life to save a select few." She look at him, her brown orbs filled with stress and sadness, "I don't want to lose Frisk, I don't want to lose Papyrus..." The last six words got caught in her throat.

A pregnant silence grew between the human and the monster as the sound of the moody, rushing waterfall water seemed to surround them. It was calming, Charm liked it, it always seemed to calm her stress filled nerves.

"Welp, it's getting a bit late. Not that I'm in a _rush_ to get outta here, but I _water_ go to Grillby's, wanna come?" Sans asked, tossing in a few puns. "I'll treat ya."

Charm frowned, "Sure, but we're walking. No short cuts," she said, and in return, Sans frowned.

"Seriously!?"

"Seriously," she gave him a hard, stern look, and Sans sighed, begrudgingly following the dark skinned girl. "C'mon, you could use the exercise anyway."

Sans glared at her, "I'm _big-boned_."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."  
✨•✨•✨•✨  
After a long walk back, filled with complaints on how Sans' feet were aching they finally made it to Grillby's.

Sans and Charm sat on an empty bar stools at the counter. Sans ordered her a hamburger and some water for Charm and getting a bottle of ketchup for himself. "Why'd you order ketchup?" Charm asked, just as the bartender, and owner, came back, passing the glass of water and bottle of burgundy ketchup to Sans. As she was sipping her water, Sans uncapped the bottle, and -- much to her surprise -- pressed the ketchup bottle on his teeth. Somehow, some of it actually got in his mouth, in between his teeth. The rest dripped down his chin, falling lazily on his jacket.

Charm coughed, choking on her water. Sans grinned wider, "Why--" Charm cut herself off by falling into another coughing fit. She gripped the countertop, trying to steady herself. After taking in several deep breaths, she continued her sentence, "Why... Are you _drinking_ ketchup?"

"'Cause I can," He answered, taking another swig of ketchup.

Charm stared at him for a few more seconds, after finding a flower that could talk and a motherly goat woman, this -- a skeleton drinking ketchup -- had to be the weirdest thing she's encountered. "You're so weird Sans," Charm muttered, taking another careful sip of her water.

Sans chuckled, "It's not regular ketchup."

"Oh really?"

"Yep. It's _special_ ketchup," he winked.

Charm rolled her eyes, "You're still weird." She paused, staring at him. Sans easily noticed this.

"What? Do I got ketchup on my teeth?" He joked lightly.

Charm adverted her gaze, staring at the swinging door that Grillby just went through, after dropping off her hamburger. "No it's just... You do know that teleporting around like that... It's not good for you," she scolded softly. Sans' bonebrow quirked, why was she concerned about his health?

"All that Void energy, it's gotta go somewhere, right?" She continued, her hands folding awkwardly around her cup. "Absorbing too much of that... _Stuff_ into your soul... It's not healthy and has weird side effects, death included."

"I'll be fine," Sans tried to say, but Charm gave her a cold stare.

"Don't say that, Sans. I've heard it too... Too many times. ' _I'll be fine_ '," she scoffed mockingly, he was surprised by the bitterness hanging in her voice. "What am I going to tell everyone else when I have to bury your body? That you said that you would be fine? That you got a bit too reckless one too many times? Sans, what would I tell _Paps_ if I find you dead from prolonged exposure of Void energy? You need to be more careful, for Papyrus, for Frisk... For me..."

Sans stiffly nodded, guilt rippling through his xylophone-like ribcage. A blue blush formed on his face, but he turned away to keep her from seeing it. What was up with this kid?! Why was she so worried about him? Why did she care so badly? Why... Did she make him feel this way? A way he's never felt, ever.

He took a deep breath, giving her a strained smile, "'Kay kid, you win. I'll be more careful."

"Swear it," she said seriously. "Swear it on something that truly matters." Now this caught him off guard. On something that mattered? He hated to make promises so a swear? What did he have that mattered to hum enough for him to swear this on?

Then, a name popped up in his head, a name that he hadn't remembered, or wanted to remember, in a long... Long time.

He took a deep breath, his face voided of any emotion, his eyes a pitch black, the only kind of black that one would see in the terrors that plagued the night. Charm didn't flinch or move when she saw this, her eyes only narrowed, the feeling of determination flooding her, fueling her veins.

" **I swear on the name of W.D. Gaster**."


	9. VIII

Chapter Eight:  
The next day, Charm was bored. She sat on the couch, reading the last few pages of her book. It was _amazing_. King Grond went insane, trying to kill Danielle after she and Amara reunited. But luckily, a wizard they had met on the way, Tristan, stepped in, and shot a blast of fire magic at KinG Grond.

Then, one of the guards immediately shot Tristan with a arrow for injuring the king. Tristan dies and the guard turned to shoot Danielle, much like he had shot Tristan.

The arrow went flying, it's course going straight to Danielle's chest. but right before it hit--

" _Hey kid_ ," Sans' deep, baritone voice said, and Charm took her eyes away from the book.

"I was reading," she grumbled, a pout settling on her lips, but she sat up straight, listening to what he had to say anyway. "What's up?"

"Paps is gonna go to recalibrate his puzzles and Frisk is going with him. I think he has training today, so he might get back early. I gotta head off to work, so do you mind being here alone?"

"Yeah, I'm fine with that," Charm shrugged. "I gotta return this book soon anyway."

"Ya know, you never finished telling me about it," he grinned.

"I would now, but you have to go to work," Charm teased, shooing him away. "Stop procrastinating and go!"

" _Procrastination_ is my middle name," Sans' grin got even wider.

"And your last name is _Lazy_ , now go!" She made a sweeping motion with her hands to the door. "Shoo!!"

"Okay, okay, geez kid," he chuckled, and teleported out of the room.

Charm sighed at the silence. At first, she welcomed it, and began to read her book again, but for some reason it felt... _Uncomfortable_. She hasn't been alone in Sans and Papyrus' house before, so she was used to Papyrus's loud voices, or Frisk's giggling, or even Sans's puns. It didn't feel... Right being alone in their house with it so quiet.

Charm sighed, but continued to read anyway.

Danielle was about to be hit by an arrow when suddenly, Amara pushed her love out of the way. The stray arrow lodged itself Amara's chest instead, straight through the heart.

Amara fell, taking her last few breaths Danielle cried by her side, but Amara wouldn't allow herself to see her tears. ' _Please... Smile for me, my love_ ,' Amara whispered as blood spilt from her lips. ' _In my last moments, I... I would like to see you smile...'_

And she did. Danielle, through all her tears, forced herself to smile that bright, loving smile that Amara loved so much. It was only seconds later when the bright, kind light in Amara's eyes left, and her soul passed on.

Charm sat, staring wide-eyed at the book. That's it. That was the last sentence. "What." She flipped through the book, " _What_?" She squinted, reading the page again. " **What**!?" Charm shook the book upside-down. Half hoping that there was maybe, just maybe, some kind of forgotten page that could come out. Alas, no. That was the last page.

Charm frowned, half wanting to throw the book at a wall in frustration, but no. She didn't want to accidentally break any of the skeleton brothers' things in doing so.

Charm sighed, getting up. She might as well return the book. Who knows, maybe there's a sequel.

Charm got up, going for the door, snatching her jacket and a spare key, and left the house, locking it behind her. The walk to the Library ( _Or Librarary, as they spelt it_ ) wasn't too long, nor was it too far from the house.

Charm greeted all of the Monsters she passed with a friendly good morning, even asking a few how their days were going. She enjoyed talking to them. Although this was quite the close-knit town, everyone seemed to be very friendly. It made her a bit curious as to why the humans would trap the Monsters under here in the first place. As far as Charm could tell, they were practically harmless.

Charm entered the brick library, finding the usual sight of the very kind librarian, who was also the one to recommend the book to her. At the tables were the four other female monsters who apparently did the daily junior jumble, the same one that Papyrus loved.

By the looks of concentration on their faces, Charm decided that she'd rather not bother them today, and went to the Librarian instead. "Good morning," she perked happily, and the Librarian smiled at her.

"Hello there deary, how can I help you today?"

"I actually wanted to return this book that I borrowed," Charm replied, setting the book on the countertop. The librarian gratefully accepted it, "Oh, and I have a question. Is there a sequel, by any chance...?"

The librarian shook her head, "Most likely not. That book wasn't written by Monsters, it fell down here, so the chance of the sequel to the book falling would be quite unlikely."

Charm sighed in disappointment, "That sucks... Well, I'm gonna go look at the books. Thanks anyway."

"No problem, deary. I'll be right here if you need any assistance." Charm gave her a charming smile, and went to go look at the books.

Deciding that she's had enough of fantasy novels, she went to look at more historic ones. Learning about Monster history would benefit here mentally, just so she could get a grasp on the situation.

She picked up a bright green book that said talk ' _The History of Humans and Monsters_ ' down the spine of it. Judging by the title, Charm thought that it would definitely work.

After checking the book out, and voicing her goodbyes to the monster librarian, Charm headed back home.

Despite the quiet environment that disturbed Charm, she went back to the house anyway. She wasn't too familiar with the rest of the Underground and therefore didn't want to explore it yet without the help of someone who knew where they were going.

So, Charm stuck to the couch; her nose in the book as she absorbed more information about the Underground and what lied beneath it.  
✨•✨•✨•✨  
About a hour later, Charm heard a sharp rapping on the door. A frown etched her face. Who could that be? Papyrus and Sans had a key and they gave her the spare.

What Charm hadn't expected was the rough voice from behind the door, " _HEY! PUNK!_ OPEN UP, IT'S TRAINING TIME!!" Charm blinked, once. Twice. A bit shocked from the powerful voice that sounded like a woman's.

And when the surprises couldn't get any worse, the person busted through the door, breaking it off it's hinges. In front of Charm was a tall, female, fish lady. She was probably six foot something and had shining silvery armor on that covered her from the neck down. Under the pits of her arms was a intimidating helmet. Her bright red hair is tied into a tight ponytail with some if it hanging over her right eye, which is also covered by a eye patch.

The woman narrows her yellow-slitted eyes at Charm, her mouth turning into a frown. "Who the _hell_ are you?"

Charm stood up, but tripped over her blanket, face planting with the ground. Her legs flew in the air, and the woman's eyes widened, knowing exactly what the girl was.

" _Human_!" She hissed, a blue spear summoned in her hand. She didn't take a second to throw the blue spear surrounded by wisps of energy at Charm's body. Charm rolled away, barely dodging the blue energy spear. She shot up, gasping as the woman stared down, hatred burning in her eyes.

"W-whoa, wait!" Charm exclaimed, scrambling to get up, only to have a spear pointed at her neck.

"I don't know how you even got in here, but I don't care! I'm gonna take your **SOUL** , that way we can get out of here after _YOU PUNKS_ trapped us down here!!" The fish woman screamed, reading her spear to impale Charm's chest.

Charm stared at her, as her black soul escaped her chest and much to her surprise, turned a forest green. " _En garde_!" The mad woman declared.

Arrows came at Charm in one direction, but as soon as they hit, they flung off harmlessly, as if to bounce off a shield. She couldn't move, she could only turn, barely being able to dodge the energy spears. "Wait, you've gotta let me explain myself," Charm tried to say, as more spears came, this time in a different direction. As each one approached, Charm turned to deflect it.

"There's no need to talk, fight me!" She yelled, throwing more arrows. Now, they were coming rapidly. Charm began to sweat, doing the best she could, trying to turn and block them, but there were too many. Several of them scraped past her arm, but a few actually hit her in her back, chest or leg. They didn't impale her, like she initially thought they would. It was more like a hard punch to the gut, except a thousand times worse.

"But I didn't hurt anyone!" Charm tried to explain, "I-I'm staying here with Papyrus and Sans, they're--"

"DON'T TELL ME THAT _BULLSHIT_!!" The crazy lady screeched, "THOSE ARE **MY FRIENDS**! THEY WOULD NEVER LET A _HUMAN_ IN THEIR HOUSE!" Then, luckily, her soul turned back to its normal color of black, except the black cover that usually hid her soul was fading from her injuries.

Charm bit her lip, she didn't want to use magic, but she didn't think she had a choice. She quickly dodged the spears that pierced through the wooden flooring, trying her hardest to not get hit, but it was rather hard to do so.

She got hit a few times, but these were much more powerful than the rapid arrows. Much more pain filled her body and mind when she failed to dodge the spears.

She gasped, her eye sight blurring for a moment as she tries to regain her breath. " _HA_! You're weak, _PUNK_! Fight me like a real human, give me a _CHALLENGE_!" Charm's eyebrow twitched, she wanted to defend herself, she wanted to use her magic against the crazy woman, but after meeting such kind Monsters like Toriel, Papyrus, or even Sans, she didn't have the heart to kill or harm a Monster. She couldn't do it; she _wouldn't_ do it.

The only thing she could do right now is flee, and flee she did.

Despite the stupid block on her arm, Charm teleported out of the room, and far away. She needed help, she needed Sans. He'd know what to do. Maybe he knew the crazy Monster that just tried to kill her. Maybe he could reason with her.

Charm appeared in front of Sans's sentry stand near the Ruins door. She had hoped that he would be here. She prayed to whatever higher being that he was here.

"Charm?" The familiar deep voice that she had been longing for called. She smiled through her pain, happy to hear his voice. "Oh my gods, Charm?! What the-- _what the_ _hell_ _happened_?!"

"I... I dunno..." She wheezed, squeezing her eyes shut, forcing herself to ignore the sharp electrifying pain that was being shoved into her arm through the stupid bracelet. "Lady... Showed up... Yelling... S-spears..."

"Hey, hey, take a breath, okay. Tell me what happens," he coaxed, coming to Charm's side.

Charm breathed like he ordered, "Fish woman... She-she came over, asking for a-a punk for training... She saw me and... And attacked..."

"How'd you get here?"

"T-Teleport." Sans's eye sockets widened, what? The kid teleported here?! How? She didn't even have ma--

His eye sockets turned to saucers as he stared at Charm's chest. "H-hey Sans, uhm, I don't think now is the... Uh, time to look at my boobs..." Charm muttered, but Sans couldn't take his eyed away. Instead, he rose a hand and one again, she felt that tugging feeling at her chest, and her soul rose out.

Her eyes widened, just as much, if not more, than Sans's had, as she realized what he was looking at.

Her soul, while black, wasn't completely black. One half was a black, human soul, but the other... A white, monster's soul was tightly stitched together.

Sans's face paled, if that was even possible for the skeleton, his eyes turning to black endless pits, just like last night. Unfortunately, the fearlessness and determination that filled her did not accompany Charm today, instead, quite the opposite decided to flood Charm's mind.

This was fear and embarrassment.

"... Charm? Why... Why is there a Monster's soul in yours...?" Sans asked, his voice low and threatening. She gulped, trying to think of a million excuses to use, but she couldn't find one.

"Sans I... I can explain..."

"Oh, will you?"

"I'm sorry, I..." Charm closed her eyes, "Sans, it's not what you think..."

Sans didn't listen to her. He was too busy shaking with anger, "This... This is _disgusting_. Why...?"

"No, wait, Sans," Charm cried, on the brink of tears. "Please, just let me--"

"No, that's **sick** ," he growled. "W-Who did you _kill_ in order to do that!? Why would you do that?!"

"I didn't do it!!" Charm screamed. Sans looked at her, confused for a second, but his glare didn't soften as he waited for her to explain. "I-I didn't... I didn't want them to do this to me... I didn't want..."

"What do you mean ' _I didn't do it_ '? If you didn't who did?"

" _HEY! SANS_!!" The crazy woman's voice called again. Charm froze, her eyes meeting Sans's before she teleported away once again.

"Hey! Punk!!" Undyne said, coming over. "I just saw a human at your house! What was that about!?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Sans asked, feigning dumbness.

"Sans! You know what I mean, Punk! Why the _fuck_ was a human in your house!?! Are you and Papyrus hiding a human?!"

He only shrugged, his smile growing, refusing to tell Undyne a thing. "I dunno, but I've been out here for a while, so this _bag of bones_ is gonna take a break," and a second later, he was gone.

First, Sans went to where Papyrus and Frisk were recalibrating the puzzles, quickly appearing beside the two. "Hey bro," Sans said, making Frisk slightly jump. "It okay if I take the kid from you for a sec?"

"Hm? Well, yes, I suppose," Papyrus answered, "There is only one of other puzzle that needs to be recalibrated. Is there something wrong, brother?"

"Oh, it's _snow_ -thing," Sans joked.

"Aurghh! Just hurry up and get out of here!" Papyrus shouted, not wanting to hear another pun.

"Okay, okay," Sans grinned, taking the kid by the hand and walking out of sight, before teleporting back to the house.

Several minutes later, Papyrus finally finished recalibrating his last puzzle. He smiled proudly to himself. At least until he heard a familiar loud voice, "Hey! Papyrus!" Undyne's very, very loud voice shouted. Her metal shoes crunched in the snow as she quickly approached, her yellow eyes dangerously narrowed.

"Oh, hello Undyne!" Papyrus greeted in his usual cheery voice. "I have just finished--"

Undyne grabbed his shoulders, pulling him close, "I just saw a human at your house," She stated bluntly.

Papyrus began to sweat, "U-Uh, really? _Wo-wowie_! Did you, uhm, take their--"

"They got away," she grimaced, looking away. "They're strong, and there's definitely something off about their soul." She looked back at Papyrus, seriously. "Look, you wanna be in the Royal Guard, right?"

"Of-of course!"

"Then do us all a favor and fight them. Take their souls. _Prove_ to me that you're worthy to get into the Royal Guard! That you'll be able to protect the _Underground_!! That you'll be able to protect your _brother_!"

Papyrus's looked at Undyne, shocked for a few seconds, before nodding, "Yes! Yes, of course, Undyne!" He shouted with confidence.

Undyne smirked proudly, "Good. I'll be in Waterfall if you need me. Remember to watch out for humans," her heavy footsteps trenched in the snow as she left and headed back for Waterfall.

Papyrus's confident smile soon fell. Could he do it, he questioned himself, could he hurt his small, human friends? They were getting along so well, they even liked his spaghetti!

"I, _the Great Papyrus_ , will join the Royal Guard!" He declared to no one, "I will protect the Underground! I will protect Undyne! I will protect my brother!! _NYEH-HEH-HEH-HEH_... heh..."


	10. IX

Chapter Nine:  
Sans was shocked to find the condition of his home. The door was off it's hinges, and there were several large holes in the flooring, along with the walls. They were probably from Undyne's spears. The couch had a huge rip in the front, probably fixable though.

Charm lied on the ground in the center of the chaos. Her hair surrounded her body like a dark halo. Her eyes were squeezed tight in pain, tears streaming out of them. Her hand wrapped around her forearm where that mysterious bracelet was.

The kid gasped, quickly running to her side, [ _What happened_!?] They asked, shaking the girl's shoulders. Charm whimpered, not opening her eyes.

Sans didn't feel a shred of sympathy for the human. "Undyne happened. Somehow got to her, and... Well, you can see how that turned out." He growled.

Sans walked over, picking Charm off the ground, and setting her on the couch. He moved a hand to the door, easily using his magic to put the door back, fix the splintered wood temporarily, and screw back in the hinges. With much effort, he bent the wood back, making it look somewhat normal. At least enough for his brother to probably not notice.

Charm looked at Sans, her brown eyes filled with tears, "Sans... I'm sorry, I--"

He gave her a glare, the white pinpricks of his eyes gone again, causing her to go silent. "Kid, can you get the first aid kit, it should be under the sink in the bathroom. And, by all means, take your time." The kid quickly understood that the two needed some time alone, and quickly scurried out of the room.

Charm's eyes stayed on the flooring, "The... The other soul, I didn't do that..." She muttered, trying to explain.

"Then who did?"

"Humans. Other humans. They... Wanted to tamper with our souls," she answered, a bit uncomfortably.

"And you _let them_?"

"What? No! They just... _Took us_ ," she ran a hand through her wispy hair. "Look, I don't expect you to understand--"

"I think I understand plenty," he spat, a singular glowing blue eye glaring her down. Charm would've been worried about this, had she not been more concerned about what he was about to say. "I don't know who did... This to you, but I don't care. I don't want you around my little brother. I don't want you around Frisk. If I ever, ever see you around us again, then you're gonna have a really bad time."

She simply stared at him, but her hands formed to fists, "You don't understand!" She shouted.

"I understand enough!" He snapped.

"You understand **NOTHING**!" Now, her eyes matched his, glowing a threatening dark violet, " _Let me_ _explain_ \--"

"No," his voice held finality. This was it. End of argument, there's nothing else to say. "You leave in the morning." Then, Sans was gone.  
✨ •✨ •✨ •✨   
Minutes after the screaming match that the two had, Frisk had slowly began down the steps. They were holding the first aid kit in their arms. They came over to Charm, who was staring at nothing. They tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped, wiping dark purplish tears that betrayed her eyes, and turned to the kid.

Charm gave Frisk a small smile, "Hey kiddo, what's up?"

[ _Are you okay? I heard shouting_ ,] Frisk asked, even their usual neutral expression looked a bit worried.

"I'm fine," she smiled, sitting up and looking around. The room was a bit... _Messy_. There was still that cut on the bottom of the couch. Somehow, Sans managed to fix the door and the wood. She would thank him for fixing things, had they been on speaking terms.

A tug pulled her out of her thoughts, [ _Are you... Going to leave_?] Frisk asked, now they looked sad. Charm sighed, ruffling Frisk's hair.

"Yeah... But I'll be back, promise," she grinned at them. "Sans needs a few days away from... Stuff, and there's something that I need to do."

[ _So... You are going to leave me_?] Frisk said with a very dejected look.

Charm sighed, holding the border of her nose. "I... No, Frisk I'm not going to leave you here, I'll be back, I swear. There's just something that I have to check first."

[ _What is that? Why can't I come_!?] they signed angrily. _[I don't want to be left here! I want to help, I—]_

"No, Frisk," Charm said firmly. "You're not coming."

_[But I—]_

"That's final," Charm gave them a stern look. Frisk stared, slightly shocked, before glaring at her.

[ _Fine! Whatever! See if I care_!] they seethed, [ _Leave me, I don't want to see you again_!]

They stormed out of the room and going up the stairs, into Papyrus' bedroom, slamming the door behind them. Charm gave a short sigh. Great, she thought to herself bitterly. First Sans pissed at her, now Frisk, the only other human in the Underground! Not to mention that there was sone kind of crazy fish lady trying to _murder_ her and take her _not-so-human soul._

What a _great fucking_ situation she just put herself in.

She sighed stressfully, taking the first aid kit that Frisk had given her, and setting it in the table next to Rock. First things first, clean up. With as much of a clean freak Papyrus is, he'd freak when he sees this house, she told herself. Second, find out where the hell she's going to go.

"Okay then..." She muttered to herself, picking up a stray pillow.  
✨•✨•✨•✨  
Papyrus came back just in time for Charm to finish cleaning and seat herself on the couch. Sometime during her cleaning, she found the book she had borrowed from the Librarary. She found a certain part about the Barrier _very_ interesting...

Papyrus came through the door, with an unusually wide grin, "OH! Hello slightly-less-smaller human! How was your day?" He greeted very enthusiastically, if not more so than usual.

"Fun," Charm perked. She'd hate to inform him in the issues that were going around right now. The last thing she wanted was his happy demeanor going down. "How were your puzzles?"

"Complicated and intricately designed, as usual!" He beamed, "I, the Great Papyrus, would never let his puzzles get down to anything but extraordinary!"

She laughed, he was so happy. Nothing ever seemed to get him down. "I'm sure you wouldn't."

"Is my brother here?" He asked, "Or is he hiding in his room again?"

She frowned a bit, thinking about it. "Ah, I don't think he's here actually..." He did teleport out. "He's probably at Grillby's or something."

"He is always spending his time there!" Papyrus sighed. "I guess I'll make dinner for us three then."

"Actually, I already made dinner," Charm said, and she did. She made spaghetti, at least Papyrus's recipe of it. She had never made the pasta before, at least before he so energetically taught her how to. So she could only assume that his recipe was the best to go off of. It did seem a little strange to add glitter, but it was Papyrus' favorite ingredient, so tonight, she added extra.

"Really?" Charm nodded, smiling at him, "Wowie! I'll go try it right now!" He ran into the kitchen, probably finding the container of spaghetti on the counter.

Charm chuckled to herself, sinking into the couch. Frisk hadn't came out of their room since their argument and Sans already hates her. It felt a little good to have at least someone to actually enjoy her presence right now, even if he didn't know exactly what was going on.

"This spaghetti is exceptional, human! Although it is not as good as mines or Undyne's, it surely is a close third!" He complimented, and Charm laughed.

"Thanks!" Charm turned back to her book, and frowning a bit. "Hey Papyrus?"

"Yes, human?" He called, now exiting the kitchen. He had already finished his spaghetti, although there was a smudge of red just above his teeth... Bones...Thing.

Papyrus sat beside Charm, waiting for her to ask the supposed question. "So... I'm reading this book, right?" She showed him the big book that she had in her hands and he nodded eagerly. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question about something I found in it?"

"Of course, human! What is it that you would like to ask?"

"Well... First of all... This-this Barrier thing, the one that's blocking the exit to the Underground, how many souls are needed to destroy it?"

"Seven! We have already gotten six of the seven so far though," he replied. "Is that all you would like to ask?"

"No, I have a few more, sorry," Charm rubbed the back of her neck. "Where is this Barrier thing anyway?"

"It is in the King's castle in Hotlands!" He paused, "Does it not say so in the book?"

She shook her head, "No, that's why I was curious. So, you and Sans, you both, like... Wait for humans? Or, at least their souls?"

"Well, yes," he rubbed his shiny skull. "Sans and I are sentry guards, we usually help Monsters passing through the area, but we also are supposed to stop any humans from coming in and collect their souls!"

"When you say 'stop' do you mean...?" Charm trailed off, but Papyrus shook his head.

"No! No, nothing like that! If any humans are to come through here, I am to fight them, and when they are weak enough, I capture them and put them in the shed so when Sans and Undyne come, they can kindly ask to have their souls!" He smiled broadly, "Humans are really nice, they keep giving us their souls, and then we let them sleep here!"

Charm stared at the skeleton, "By-by sleep, you mean—"

"In a bed of course!" He beamed, "I know the monster who makes them, actually! They even showed me one time! It is wooden and very, very comfy too! The humans must have such a nice time sleeping in them, especially for so long!"

Charm's eyes widened and she stared at Papyrus. He was too innocent for his own good... Too kind, too optimistic... too oblivious to realize what Sans and Undyne have been doing. "Human? Are you alright?" Papyrus asked placing a hand on her shoulder, she tended, giving him a strained smile.

"Yeah... Yeah I'm good," Charm assured. "How about you go call Frisk down and then we can all watch Mettaton, okay? I'm pretty sure he has a new show tonight."

Papyrus shot up at the news and bounded up the steps, calling the young child's name. Charm chuckled, but sank into her seat, a hand covering her face, letting Papyrus' words sink in. Sans and Undyne had... Killed kids, and taken their souls. She grimaced. Yes, after what she read and heard from Papyrus, they need a way to get out of the Underground but this!? And not only one but six children who had the misfortune to fall down in this place.

She sighed, could she really blame them? They've been down here for ever—at least according to the lore that her mother would tell her—and they were put down here by _her people!_ Should she really be judging them for taking the souls of six children after her people had taken probably hundreds of thousands of theirs?

Footsteps neared the steps as Papyrus pounded down them, with softer ones behind him. "We are ready human! Start the show!"

Charm laughed as the armored skeleton plopped himself on the couch, in-between herself and Frisk. They didn't seem to midnight too much, probably because of the tension going on between the two, but it kind of hurt Charm, at least a little. Either way, the movie was started and Papyrus was ecstatic.  
✨•✨•✨•✨  
It didn't take long for the movie to finish, but by the time it did, the two had already dozed off. Charm glanced at the clock, it had been getting late after all, and the two were supposed to be asleep anyway.

Charm picked Frisk up, their small body curl into her warm arms instinctively. Easily, she carried them into Papyrus' room, setting their sleeping figure softly on the bed.

Now it was Papyrus' turn. She slowly, picked up his, long boned body, shakily bringing him up the steps and into the pre-opened door. She placed his heavy body beside Frisk's. Huffing at her handiwork, she stalked off, heading back to the couch.

"You seem to have a history with kids, huh?" Sans' gruff voice comes from the side of the room. Charm neither flinches not jumps at the surprise of him showing up. She holds her head high, and continues down the steps and to the couch.

"Yeah. Always liked little kids..." A small, nostalgic smile fell on her lips, thinking back to all the little kids that she saved. "You could say I had a history with them..."

Sans rose an bone brow, "Oh really?"

"I see all little kids as my own," she shrugged, pulling out her book once more. "Kids need guidance so it's best to be nice to them at a young age. That way, when they grow up and look back on it, even if everything is dark in their childhood, they are able to look back and see the light. And, someday... I hope that when they see that light... They think of me..."

Sans stared at her for several seconds, making Charm a bit nervous. "Nice advice," he finally nodded and she cracked a smile at him.

"Anyways, how was work?" Charm asked, sliding a piece of loose hair behind her ear.

"Meh," he shrugged. "It's always bores me to the bone." Charm snickered at his joke.

"Hey kid..." Charm turned to him, looking up from her book. "How did you... _They_ do that to your soul?" Charm's eyes fractioned.

"I, uhm, I..." She stuttered, pushing her knees further into her chest, as if she could block her soul from him. "I... Rather not—"

"Charm," Sans' voice was serious, and she flinched, looking at the ground. "I just want to protect my brother and Frisk. I want to make sure that... Whatever is up with you won't affect them."

Charm looked at him, her dark brown eyes filled with sadness, regret and... _Fear_. She was scared. Scared of remembering those memories that she's been suppressing for all these years! Afraid of bringing up his name, for it brought terror whenever anyone mentioned it. And most of all, she was afraid of her responsibility—her _destiny_. _They_ knew that she was the one that had to stop him, _he_ knew that she was the one that was going to try to stop him, and _she_ knew that she was supposed to be the one that was to stop him. But, she didn't _want to_. She didn't want that responsibility; that weight that fell upon her shoulders. She wanted to be _free_. Free from discrimination, from those... _People_! And most of all, _free from him!_

"If... If I tell you will you promise me two things?" Charm asked, wringing her fingers.

Sans' instantly frowned, "What is it?"

"First, you have to promise... To listen and hear me out. You can think and do whatever you want afterwards, but just... Let me explain it fully before you start asking questions..." Sans nodded, this was a simple request, but there was still one more.

"And?"

"And... You cannot tell anyone, anything about this. Not Papyrus, not that–that fish lady. _Nobody_." Now this is where he got hesitate. This was an entirely new timeline, he didn't know what power or ending it would hold. If he was not careful, this promise could either destroy or recreate their entire world, at least until the next reset.

"I won't tell, unless there is a life-or-death situation," he said forming his words slowly and carefully. "If someone is about to... Die, then I'll have to tell Asgore." Charm flinched, after reading that book, she knew who this ' _Asgore_ ' character was. Well, more like what his position was in their society...

 **The highest**.

"Okay," she sighed. "Fine. I... That's reasonable."

He nodded, "Good. Now tell me about your... _Situation_."

Charm took a deep breath, as she began to explain to Sans... Well, everything. "This first... Started before I was even born, actual. Probably before you were... Born too. It started with a simple word that nobody really took notice to, at least until it was too late.

"' _You witch_ '!"


	11. X

Chapter Ten:  
"Hmm? ' _Witch_ '?" Sans asked and Charm nodded.

"It's a term they—the Humans—used to describe my kind. After my mom... Passed, I lived by myself, traveling from place to place. Being called a witch was something common, like a second name. But, then it got more... Harsh. Groups of people would band together, hunting Magicians like a sport, killing them, or using them as sex slaves. It was... Scary. And being a kid having to wonder if I would wake up in the same place I fell asleep at night, it... Well, it shouldn't be anything that anyone should have to go through.

"Anyways, the government saw this... ' _Sport_ ' as they called it, and decided that it would be best to give people compensation for collecting magicians. There would be riots of people searching the streets for anyone who looked like a magician. Even if you weren't one, it was terrifying. Especially at night, when the men, coming back from bars in a drunken rampage looking for anyone who looked even a bit like a magician. Murder and hate crimes rose in cities all around the country. It was suddenly too dangerous to be anywhere.

"So I left, I packed the little stuff I had and was about to teleport out, until I saw two children being attacked by adults. They screamed at them, throwing rocks or threatening to kill them. And the kids couldn't have been any older than ten or nine. I couldn't watch it.

"I stepped in, yelling at all the adults to leave them alone, even if they were magicians, they were still kids! They didn't deserve to be treated like that. The crowd took a 180, and began to attack me. Luckily, the kids were able to get away before the fight started.

"Someone pulled out a gun, and shot at the sky, and the entire crowd went into chaos, thinking that I had attacked someone. Eventually, the police got involved and I was taken to the Magician Camps."

"Magician Camps?" Sans asked, and Charm nodded.

"They're not what you think. It's like a... Storing area to keep Magicians, supposedly it was good for the Humans in order to ' _keep them safe_ ' and also ' _completely humane_ ' as well," she scoffed. "Please. That place was hell, if not worse.

"Secretly, the bill that allowed Magicians to be captured was only a cover to allow scientist to see if they could harness the energy and magic that came from Magicians and use it as their own. They'd... Extract the magic; the life source, from people slowly, so they'd be able to regain it—barely—and do it again. It was... Horrible," Charm shuddered at the thought.

"And if that wasn't enough,they were also doing something much... _Much_ different. After all of the energy from the soul was extracted from the Magician, they'd take their soul, their being, an slice it in half Then... They would... They would take the half of another Magicians soul, who hadn't been drained yet, and surgically sew it together."

Sans' eye sockets went wide, the white pin-pricks of light gone. "Is that..." Charm pulled her soul out of her chest, wincing a bit from the shock of her bracelet. A black heart hovered in her hands, bobbing up and down slightly.

"But, it's black," Sans argued.

"That's my magic," Charm chuckled. "Illusions. Making you see what's not really there. After falling down, and seeing my soul exposed, I immediately hid it. I don't... I don't know why, exactly, but I had a feeling that I should." Charm waved her hand over her soul, and just like earlier, Sans saw a black soul connected to a white one. "But, the strange thing is, Monster souls are upside down, right?" Sans nodded silently, "Mine isn't. But, it's strange too. Because it's... Empty, I can sometimes store magic in it, like a reserve, but not all the time, and it's very unstable as well, so I don't do it often."

"Do... Do you even know how they did this?" Sans asked, reaching to touch her soul, silently tracing the stitches with his bony fingers.

"I have no clue. Science was never really my strong point," she shrugged. "I can tell you that it hurt like hell, though."

"Wait," Sans paused. "I thought you said it hurt to use magic. Was that just a fibula?"

Charm giggled at his pun, "No, it was true. Ever since I've been down here, it has been hurting, but since it is small magic, it's not as painful, and I block it out."

Sans gently grabbed the girl's arm, "Don't touch," Charm warned. "Monsters are made of magic, I can already feel it humming because you're so close to it."

"Have you tried teleporting yourself out of the bracelet?" Sans asked, looking up at her.

"No, it hurts too much to do magic. Like, arm is being chopped off hurt," She replied with a huff.

"Do you want to?" She froze, staring at him.

"Do you think you can do it?"

"Maybe. Probably," Sans shrugged. "You'll never know until you try. But, it'll hurt a lot, so I don't know if—"

"Do it," Charm begged. "Please, if you can, could you do it?"

Sans sighed, "Are you sure kid?"

"Positive," she gave a firm nod.

"Okay... Don't say I didn't warn ya. Hang on." He grabbed her hand and instantly teleported out of the room.

Charm felt a burning sensation grow up the side of her arm, nearly making the girl scream in pain as she entered the void. Sans moved to touch the bracelet. She saw him flinch at the contact of the metal, but continued anyway.

Suddenly, they were back on the couch, Charm fell off and onto the ground, breathing heavily. "Kid? Kid are you alright?" Sans asked, coming to her side. She looked at him, then at her arm, then back at him.

"Y... You did it..." She murmured. Then a squeal of joy emerged from her mouth, "You did it! You actually did it!" She jumped on the skeleton, sending them both to the ground, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Sans' entire face turned a bright baby blue, "H–Heh. No prob, kiddo," he replied, rubbing the back of his skull. "It wasn't any weight off my back if ya know what I mean." She had completely ignored him, raising her hand, and instantly creating a small white animal hop around in it.

Charm giggled, "I–It doesn't hurt!" She sent both her arms out and instantly the room turned into a wide meadow. The sun beamed over the two of them, casting a two-o'clock shadow across the grassy field full of flowers and bees and butterflies that zoomed from flower to flower. Charm laughed like a child, falling on the ground, her hair splaying out around her like a dark halo. "Heheh, I missed this..." She murmured.

Then she shot up, looking at Sans, who had been staring at... Well, everything. It was like she had just teleported him from their couch to the Surface instantly. A bee buzzed near the side of his head. He flinched, jumping at it and looking around. Charm frowned, dropping the illusion, he looked scared, shocked even. She didn't want to scare him away, just after he had done something so big for her.

"S... Sorry," she whispered, sitting down. "I... Haven't been able to use magic like that since I was little. I should have asked you first; that was irresponsible of me."

"That was beautiful," Sans finally whispered, but then turned away. "I–I mean... Wow. That was something... I, uh..."

"Sans?" Charm asked, making the blue-faced skeleton look at her.

"Yea?"

"What's your favorite thing in the world? Other than Papyrus... And sleeping... And eating Grillby's."

Sans blinked at the question at the sudden question, "Why?"

"Just answer the question," she huffed.

"Okay, uh... Well, there are these... These rocks down near waterfall that twinkle like stars do. I love stars, ever since I was a baby bones I have," Sans chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his skull. "I used to have a big book on astronomy but I have no clue what happened to it. Why do you ask an—" Charm snapped her fingers and once again the skeleton froze, eyes wide.

The meadow that surrounded them minutes ago had returned, but this time it was deep in the night. Stars littered the sky, where the ceiling would usually be. Hundreds of thousands of the stars twinkled in the moonlight. Charm walked over, grabbing Sans' bony hand and sitting him down on the grass that seemed to be under him, then sat beside him.

"This is..." Sans tried to say, but he couldn't get his words out.

"Thank you, Sans," Charm whispered, lying on the ground so she could get a better view, "Really. Thanks."

"Like I said, it was nothing," Sans shrugged.

"It was everything to me," Charm replied. "So stop saying that."

"Whatever you say, kid," Sans chuckled.

The two sat there, staring at the sky silently. Sans had been tracing different constellations that he knew from his astronomy book to himself, and guessing about the others.

After nearly ten minutes, Charm spoke up again, "Sans?"

"Yea?"

"Do you want the Barrier to be opened?" This was a random question, why was she asking about this, Sans wondered.

"Uh, yeah. I–I guess, I mean, everyone wants the Barrier to be broken. I guess we're all a little sick of looking at four walls all the time."

"What if I told you that earth, that the Surface, wasn't as cracked up to be as you want it to be?" Charm asked, "What if I told you that humans really haven't changed at all since they trapped you down here? If anything, they've been more destructive. Would you... Would you still want to go?"

A sad look crossed Sans' face and he gave a weary sigh, "Look, kiddo, I'm gonna be honest with you. It's getting pretty crowded down here, and while there are other... Means of clearing up space for everyone, the easiest, and most efficient way to do so is to get to the Surface and live there."

Charm looked at Sans deeply in his eye sockets, before letting a soft smile break out on her face. "Then it's decided."

"What's decided?" Sans asked.

"I'm leaving tomorrow."


	12. XI

Chapter Eleven:

"What?" Sans said, sitting up. Charm hadn't moved and was still staring at the starry sky longingly.

"Tomorrow. I'm leaving," she repeated.

"Why!? You don't have to leave, kid. It–It ain't hurting us to keep ya here so—"

"That's not why I need to leave," Charm sat up, and looked at Sans. Even though it was dark in her illusion, he could see her clearly. Her face was stern and serious. "I was reading that book about the barrier. Six children have died already. We all need to get out and I... I don't want to see Frisk be the seventh."

"So you're going to offer your soul to open the barrier?" Sans asked, her eyes narrowed.

"No." Sans felt relieved instantly. "But, I do have another plan in mind..."

✨•✨•✨•✨

Charm didn't wait till morning to leave. She didn't want to see Frisk be upset with her, but... She also didn't want Sans following her before she left. So, once she knew he was asleep, she teleported out of the house.

It seemed to Charm that Snowdin was much more colder at night, but the dimmed lights looked beautiful with the snowy scenery. The snow seemed to fall directly in line with the half-lit houses, giving it a almost haunted, or old, look.

Charm smiled at the scene as she walked, her boots trudging through the heavy snow. She would've been worried about them leaving traces, but she was sure that the falling snow would cover them for her.

After Charm walked through one particularly blizzard-like area—she wasn't able to teleport through that, she didn't want to accidentally land herself over the edge from blindly doing so—and walked through a rather bushy hedge.

After being initially startled at the overgrown hedge, Charm carried on, landing herself in front of a interesting waterfall. There was a short land bridge provided, the water had been rather shallow, so it wasn't had to run past to avoid slipping or—even worse—being knocked off by the falling rocks ahead.

Charm continued to roam to vast waterfall area. Sometimes, she'd come across strange engravings on the walls, explaining the war between the humans and the monsters several centuries ago. She compared it to the story her mother used to tell her all the time — the monsters were trapped underground by her people, and afterwards, they began to fear the Magicians as well. It was surprisingly accurate. It made her wonder how the story hadn't became muddled after several centuries of being told over and over again, or how it didn't become forgotten.

Charm smiled to herself, they've come a long way, certainly. But, it was merely the beginning...

✨•✨•✨•✨

Charm had been walking for quite a while. The waterfall area was beyond beautiful. It was peaceful and quiet. The flowing water echoed through the caves' walls. Occasionally, Charm would stumble across a few blue flowers, that about as tall as her knees. If she listened close enough, she could hear soft whispers of a passing conversations through them. It was spooky at first, but after a while, it became rather comforting, really.

As Charm walked, she heard the faintest of movements. At first, she wrote it off as a animal passing by, but after several minutes, she heard it again.

Charm created an illusion of herself that continued to walk, while she hid in the shadows, waiting for whatever seemed to be stalking her. It took a few minutes, but eventually, a small yellow flower popped out of the ground, staring at her retreating figure. Charm quickly recognized it as the flower that greeted her and Frisk rather negatively when they first fell into the Underground.

"Hello there," Charm said cheerily. The flower screamed, which sounded high pitched, but no doubt terrified, and quickly turned around.

"How–How'd you sneak up on me!?" Flowey hissed, a leaf positioned over his stem, where Charm assumed was where his heart was.

Charm couldn't help but giggle softly, "Magic~." The flower glared at her, his beady black eye narrowed. Charm bent down to his level, "Why are you following me?" Charm asked, out of curiosity, not anger.

"Why should I tell you!?" Flowey hissed defensively, crossing his leaves over his stem. "You're just a stupid human, and by the way, humans _can't_ use magic, idiot!"

Charm shrugged, "I'm a special case, then. And, you don't have to tell me why you're following me, if you don't want to. You're more than welcome to come with me, if that was your intention. I have no reason to push you away."

Flowey stared at Charm, "Whatever," he grumbled and sunk back into the earth. Charm chuckled, and continued to walk, stumbling across a cave with a piano inside. Charm blinked, she hadn't seen a piano in years! Her mother used to be able to play, before she immigrated from India, that is. Her magic did involve music, and although she didn't quite inherit that much of her magic, she still was able to learn music.

Charm sat down at the piano and positioned her fingers over the keys. After a few seconds, she finally began to play. Charm didn't know what song it was, but she remembered her mother used to be able to play it on anything whenever she could.  
It was by no means a slow, soft song. It was fast, upbeat, and eccentric! Her mother would always sing the song with a smile on her face.

A nostalgic smile found its way on her lips as her hands slowly fell away from the keys. She heard movement and turned around to see Flowey again, and he was staring at her. "What's wrong?" Charm asked, concerned.

"You know how to play that rusty old piece of garbage?" He asked, his insulting words didn't quite match up with his curious tone.

Charm laughed, standing up, "Yes, yes I do," she smiled. "It's a bit hard to understand at first, but if you practice really hard, I'm sure you can learn too!"

"You idiot," Flowey hissed. "I don't have hands. How would I be able to learn?"

"Why should that stop you?" Charm asked. "I once heard of a man who had no arms, but he played a instrument called a guitar — which you usually need arms for. It was rather inspiring, so—"

"Who cares about that!?" Flowey hissed, "That's not going to help anyone! Oh golly, he learned to play the guitar with his, what? _Tongue_? That just makes him even more of a freak, like you! You humans are so—" Flowey stopped talking when he noticed his change in scenery. He was no longer in Waterfall. Now, he was over the cliff in the Hotlands.

Flowey remembered this cliff — he remembered this place — when he was at his lowest point and had no determination to live. His stem began to tremble and he moved back, just in time to avoid a rather big bubble of the boiling hot lava below.

"Wh... What's the meaning of this!?" Flowey hissed, turning around to find Charm sitting on the ground beside him. "You're just as bad as that–that smiling trash bag aren't you!? You—"

"Is this why you're so upset, Flowey?" Charm asked, staring into the lava. Her voice was soft and mesmerizing. "You've been at your lowest several times, haven't you? You've contemplated jumping, sometimes, you've actually done it." She looked at him, and Flowey noticed how her eyes were completely black, if not a really, really dark purple. He gasped, trying to pull away, but his roots rooted him to the earth. "Don't be sad, anymore Flowey. I'm going to fix everything. I'm going to fix you."

Charm tapped her finger on his stem, drawing out his upside down, monster soul. Flowey resisted, trying to pull away, but Charm's magic was so strong, he was only able to be submissive to whatever she was doing. Charm chuckled, "I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry," she smiled. "My mother used to say all life is precious and shouldn't be taken for granted. That means your life is too."

"Then... She was an idiot!" Flowey hissed, "Let me guess, she's dead now because of that, huh? Idiots like her don't deserve to live, and neither do you!"

Charm's smile was unfazed. In fact, it began to grow into something wider and more kind, that it almost — _almost_ — made Flowey regret his words. After a long, nerve-wracking minute, she spoke again. "Goodbye, Flowey." Charm pushed him into the lava. His scream were drowned along with his body as he sank farther and farther into the unbearably hot lava.

Flowey gasped, looking around, finding himself back in Waterfall, and he wasn't burning alive. He gasped, his soul pounding in his chest, and sweat dripped off his face. "I showed you what I would've done if I didn't live by my mother's words," Charm said. She was still sitting at the piano bench, smiling, but it wasn't as comforting as it was before — now it seemed more... Dangerous, threatening, almost. "Of course, I wouldn't do that to a monster, it's horrible. But, that doesn't mean I can't make you relive those precious moments of your life over and over again until I say stop."

Flowey stared at her. The unfamiliar feeling of fear ran a chill through his magical body. "Wha... What _are_ you? You have no right to be down here! You're going to be just like them and–and slaughter everyone, aren't you!? You're not Chara!"

Charm blinked, "If you think my intentions down here are ill, then you're very much wrong, Flowey. I don't want to hurt anyone. Unless, of course, you insult my mother. Then, you should count to ten because that's how many seconds you have left to live."

Flowey stared at her, "Who are you?"

"Charm," she smiled. "I'm a magician, if you hadn't already guessed, and I'm going to free everyone down here."

✨ **•** ✨ **•** ✨ **•** ✨

Flowey accompanied Charm as she walked through the Underground. Neither of them talked much, and he hid whenever Charm was approached by a monster. Charm met a lot of new monsters, her favorite were the Shyrens, because they were so cute to her.

Flowey would sometimes comment on her lack of a 'backbone' against these monsters. He complained that she was so boring and should at least play around with them, if she was going to even bother talking to them — and he did not mean that in a positive way. Charm laughed at it as if it were a joke and continued her trek through the Underground. Eventually, they made it to a large area that had just been simply a huge wooden walkways, suspended on stilts. Because of its lack of earth, Flowey had to take the longer way around and meet Charm on the other side.

Flowey left and Charm began to walk through the dark wooden area. Her irrational fear of heights still plagued her, but she gulped away her anxiety and pushed it to the back of her mind.

Charm walked slowly through the boardwalks, her arms wrapped tightly on her chest. She had a loose strand of dark hair twisted around her fingers nervously as she trekked.

"Hey there!" A familiar voice called out, making Charm yelp in surprise. Heavy footsteps collided with the wood until a metal hand was placed on her shoulder. Charm gulped. She turned around, quickly putting up a illusion, and smiled nervously at the rather tall guard that smelled faintly of sushi.

"... Hello," Charm greeted. There was some familiarity with this guard, and it was on the tip of her tongue but she just... Couldn't place it!

"I've never seen you around before. Who are you?" The guard said, being rather friendly. In fact, they sounded like a woman as well. Who was this person?

"Uh... I'm Cha...—Cha _rlie_..." Charm lied quickly.

"Weird name. That's awesome!" They took off their helmet and Charm's eyes went wide. "I'm Undyne! Are you new to this part of the Underground?" Charm didn't speak. She could feel her illusion magic flickering. Whatever illusion of a monster it was showing Undyne was slowly deteriorating, and Charm didn't want to be there when there was nothing left.

She turned and ran, shocking the female fish behind her, "Wha—!? Wait!" Undyne shouted, her heavy boots colliding with the wooden bridge to chase after Charm. The silts that suspended the bridge began to shake, which made Charm's fear of height increase tenfold.

Charm stumbled to regain balance, not bothering to keep the illusion up anymore. She quickly turned when the wooden bridge cut off suddenly. Charm's tennis shoes were slippery from being in Waterfall for so long and that almost caused her to slight straight off the bridge.

Suddenly, a wall of spears blocked Charm's path. Charm gasped, ignoring the protective jitters in her hands from her magic. "Finally," the fish woman laughed. "Why'd you run like that!? I just wanted to talk, damnit!"

Charm began to tremble. She was too high. Way too high. God, she was going to fall, isn't she!? Why did she always get herself into these situations!? Charm glanced at the edge, seeing the black abyss below and couldn't help a terrified, choked sob. She couldn't do it. She was going to fall and Sans wasn't here to save her this time! 

"... Are you okay?" Undyne asked, her brave, loud tone suddenly taking a concerned twist to it. Charm looked up, finally making eye contact with the fish monster. Despite the darkness, the light that illuminated off the spears displayed Charm's face.

Undyne's face quickly turned from concerned to blatant anger. "It's _you_! You're that human from Snowdin!"  Undyne charged at her, and Charm instinctively stepped back to avoid the fish warrior's attack.

In her anxiety-clouded mind, Charm didn't notice how dangerously close to the edge  of the bridge she was. In fact, she barely got the chance to scream as she fell into the dark, dangers below.


End file.
